Gracie Dursley, Her story
by Fanfic1900
Summary: "Gracie turned the letter over, and found that it was sealed with a wax seal, which encased a badger, a lion, a serpent and an eagle around the letter H. How very peculiar, Gracie considered as she slowly began to prise the letter open." Dudley's daughter
1. The Dursely's

_**Chapter 1- The Dursley's**_

Every Christmas without fail a letter would come. Every since Gracie Dursley could remember, a letter would shoot through the door's mail slot at half past 6 on Christmas day even though there was never post on Christmas.

The letter was always written on the same heavy looking parchment and never had a stamp to accompany it. Gracie had long given up asking her parents how it managed to be delivered as they seemed to be quite bewildered about it themselves. They were ordinary folks, Mr and Mrs Dursley, and didn't seem to be able to deal with anything extraordinary.

Mr Dudley Dursley worked in his father's firm Grunnings as the junior head of Management under the watchful eye of Vernon Dursley, and the ever beady eye of Petunia Dursley. That's how Dudley and Yvette met you see, through Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Gracie could only begin to imagine how it occurred,

"_Dinky Duddydums! There you are, come over here and meet Yvonne!" Gracie could imagine her grandma, her tall bony frame squashed into a fancy pink salmon cocktail dress, calling out to her father as she desperately tried to keep her mum from slipping away. _

_She needn't have worried. _

_There was something about Dudley's chubby cheeks and boxer physique that hooked Yvonne. The way he slowly walked over, with a seemingly 'crisp' facial expression, (it was Yvonne's way of saying blank, as crisp sounded nicer), and the way he mumbled through awkward conversation as Petunia hung on his arm, laughing her high horsey laugh, touched Yvonne. They wed 14 months later, and baby Gracie arrived a year after that, and then after that they,_

"Gracieeeeeeeeee! Get out of bed and do the dishes for me please!" Gracie was jolted back to reality by her mum's fierce shouts. Gracie groaned and rolled slowly off her bed, making her way gradually down the stairs of number 4 Privett drive towards the kitchen.

Upon entering Gracie spotted her Dad sitting in his regular seat shoving bacon down his mouth as it was the last breakfast he was ever going to eat in his life. Gracie stared sadly at her dad. The boxer physique hadn't lasted long. After Gracie was born and Yvonne became a stay at home mum Dudley had began to eat again as he had done as a teenager. The fact that he still lived in the house where he grew up couldn't of helped much either Gracie thought as she absentmindedly scrubbed the fry pan.

Suddenly Gracie noticed that she was all alone. Yvonne had left for her weekly quilting class and Dudley had gone to work, even though it was the middle of summer and too hot to even think about working or quilting in Gracie's opinion. She smiled. Here was an opportunity that was too good to miss. Gracie slowly turned around, a large grin plastered on her face. She extended her arms as far as she could, and after muttering 'oops' dropped the plate.

It smashed onto the floor with a loud ringing sound. Gracie took a deep breath and concentrated hard on the dish. Slowly, very slowly, the pieces quivered. They rattled and vibrated. With a loud snap the pieces zoomed in together and reformed the plate.

_Ha! _Gracie looked at the sink and the dishes sprung into action, cleaning themselves and even putting themselves away. Gracie turned and pointed towards the vacuum cleaner which immediately turned on and began to vacuum the living room like her mother asked her too. After a few more whirls and bouts of intense concentration Gracie collapsed on the couch absolutely exhausted, but pleased. She knew it wasn't quite right and not something that most people probably could do. But it was so _exhilarating _to be able to do something that was far from ordinary.

Gracie sighed and remembered hours spent in the library, reading fantastic books on fairytales and things that couldn't possibly be real, dragons, werewolves and unicorns for instance. Normalcy was what was encouraged in the Dursley household, and whilst reading was acceptable, (though usually there would be something far more interesting on TV), reading fairytales was more often not. That was the main reason Gracie practiced her little 'quirk' when her parents weren't home, which luckily was often as they were both extremely busy people.

Gracie bounced over to the mirror above the fireplace and studied her reflection against the photos of her parents underneath. Thank goodness that she didn't look too much like her father, Gracie thought feeling somewhat relieved. But she certainly looked nothing like her plump merry mother either. No, Gracie Dursley hadn't inherited her father's lack of neck, or thick blonde hair, and she hadn't inherited her mother's plump cheeks or pointed ears. Grandma said that she looked like her great grandmother as a younger girl, with her long red curly hair and her bright green eyes.

Dudley had always seemed haunted by Gracie's eyes, but not as much as her Grandmother who would shriek if Gracie stared at her for two long about how she had been cursed with the 'green eyes' and why wouldn't they leave her alone? Gracie didn't know how to answer this. How could her beautiful eyes be a curse?

Gracie was also lucky that she was quite skinny, considering the colossal size of her father, but that may have been because the sight of her Dad eating usually put her off whatever meal she was supposed to be eating.

Gracie continued to look at herself. She had a nice face; she decided turning it from side to side. It was a nice oval shape. Gracie stared at the picture of her parents on their wedding day and wondered if they had indeed picked the wrong child up from the hospital where she was born. Obviously she looked nothing like her parents, but also had a completely different personality.

Whilst Dudley couldn't stand books, Gracie didn't mind a good one, and whilst her mum was meek and somewhat pathetic, Gracie was strong, both in her actions and thoughts. She was nicer than her parents and certainly more intelligent, (or that's what she had always thought anyway).

But certainly some Dursley attributes had prevailed. Gracie knew that she could be lazy, and sometimes spoilt. Gracie also liked to think of herself as 'highly inquisitive' when really she was a bit of a busybody- not unlike Petunia. It was a trait Petunia lovingly encouraged in her only grandchild.

As Gracie continued to study her reflection a familiar click and whirl sound rang through the house.

What was that sound?

Gracie stared blankly (crisply) at the mirror for a few more seconds before it hit her 'oh, the post man.' She bounced over to the door and with one graceful swish, picked up all the letters from the ground. They were fairly straight forward; bills, magazines, the usual, but. Gracie scooped up a letter that seemed to be made of extremely thick paper, bearing no stamp, and even stranger, it was addressed to her!

Gracie turned the letter over, and found that it was sealed with a wax seal, which encased a badger, a lion, a serpent and an eagle around the letter H. How very peculiar, Gracie considered as she slowly began to prise the letter open.


	2. The Hogwarts Letter

_**Chapter 2- The Hogwarts letter**_

Dudley stared at Gracie's letter dumbfounded. Yvonne tapped her foot impatiently. Gracie simply sat silently, lamenting the fact that this hadn't gone well.

'What does this mean Dudley? Is this some kind of joke do you think?' Yvonne stared at her husband, waiting for a response. Gracie snuck a look at Dudley and decided she didn't think she'd ever seen him so stunned, so downtrodden and so, angry? Dudley suddenly spun round and stared at his daughter, almost as if he didn't recognise her,

'When, how, what, who?' Dudley's face was going red as he searched for the right words,

'Where, did you. _When did you get this letter?_'

'I already told you Dad, I got the letter this morning, after you and Mum left.' Dudley looked at his daughter in disbelief, as Yvonne raised an eyebrow,

'How about you tell us, um, _exactly_ what happened today? Don't you think that'd be a good idea darling?' Yvonne glanced up at Dudley, who was slowly nodding, his face returning back to a normal colour.

'Yes, yes, good idea Yvonne.' Dudley fell back into the living room chair, something that always amazed and intrigued Gracie, (_how was it that the chair didn't break?_) After making himself comfortable, (which granted took a few minutes as Dudley had a lot of excess baggage to adjust) he twisted towards her,

'Now Gracie,' his voice softened, 'Darling, tell your mum and I,' Dudley then looked off into the distance, again struggling for the right words while Yvonne looked on fondly, 'exactly what happened today,' Gracie stood up walked over to the window. It was there that lady had disappeared, Gracie thought, trailing her fingers along the glass as she eyed the driveway. With a sigh, Gracie than came and sat back down and looking carefully at her parents, began.

* * *

><p><em>How very peculiar, Gracie considered as she slowly began to prise the letter open. <em>Suddenly there was a loud rasping sound on the door, making Gracie startle and drop the letter in fright. _Surely they could've of used the door bell, _Gracie thought grumpily as she hastily picked up all the fallen letters from the floor, arranging them in a neat pile on the small table in the hallway. Gracie liked to refer to this table as the 'strategically placed table' as you often or not didn't notice the cupboard under the stairs behind it, something which her father had always been keen to keep from view. Satisfied that the hallway was presentable enough to welcome guests, Gracie strolled over to the door, opening it with a flourish and for a moment she thought she saw Petunia Dursley,

'Grandma? Is that you?' However instead of a bony Petunia Dursley, Gracie's eyes met another woman, one who didn't seem to appreciate being confused as her grandmother.

'Good morning Miss Dursley, and as you can see I am certainly not your Grandmother, and don't appreciate the reminder.' Gracie could feel her pale cheeks flushing as the woman continued to speak,

'My name is Professor McGonagall, and I wish to speak to both you and your parents if you please.' Gracie looked at her incredulously,

'What _now_?' Professor McGonagall looked over her glasses at her severely before coolly replying,

'Well yes, hence why I am here.' Gracie mentally berated herself for her rudeness and hastily let the Professor in, leading her to the living room. As McGonagall made herself comfortable on one of the Dursley's couches, Gracie motioned towards the kitchen,

'Would you like a cup of tea professor?' McGonagall shook her head,

'No, I would like to talk to your parents and yourself.' After a slight pause she went on,

'I assume that your parents are not coming home any time soon and that you have no means of contacting them?' Gracie nodded as McGonagall sighed,

'Is there _any_ adult you can contact that may be able to come and be with you whilst I talk?' Gracie shook her head,

'I'm afraid not Professor. My parents don't like to be bothered during the day, and my Grandparents are holidaying in Majorca and they're the only family I have. I don't really mind,' Gracie said quickly, catching McGonagall's expression, 'being left alone and all. I like having the time to think and practice my um, well,'

'Practice your, what?' McGonagall leaned in at these last few words, her eyes cautious and calculating, 'What is it exactly, that you have been practicing?' Gracie tried to dismiss the comment with a wave of her hand,

'Oh, it's nothing really,'

'But that's not true now is it Miss Dursley?' Gracie turned to stare at McGonagall, her eyes narrowing slightly,

'And how would you know?' McGonagall smiled at these words and pulled out a piece of wood from her cloak. It certainly was beautiful for a bit of wood, Gracie thought, admiring the smooth finish and rounded handle. With a wave McGonagall pointed at one of Yvonne's vases which leapt up and began to jig across the coffee table before jumping off, turning into a mouse in the process. After watching a shrieking Gracie with a bemused expression, McGonagall waved her piece of wood again and the mouse disappeared as a vase reappeared in its place. Gracie watched awestruck as the vase floated in the air and returned to its original place on the coffee table. _You'd never know it'd moved _Gracie thought as she turned to McGonagall, who was smiling at her,

'What, what _was_ that?' Gracie wheezed, realising that she had hardly breathed during the whole ordeal,

'Magic,' McGonagall said simply. Gracie decided then and there that she liked McGonagall- she didn't beat about the bush, 'you're a witch Gracie, and a very powerful one at that. I know that you have preformed magic, magic that you can seemingly control.' A large grin crept across Gracie's face,

'Is that what I can do? Magic?'

'Yes, well, you are a witch after all Miss Dursley. I think it is about time you should read your letter.' Gracie had almost forgotten about her letter, but at McGonagall's words it appeared suddenly in her lap. Carefully picking it up, she gingerly opened the envelope. As excited as she was, she felt strangely apprehensive and distrustful all of a sudden. Trying to squash the emotions, she gently shook the envelope, a letter landing softly in her lap. Unfolding the heavy parchment, she read,

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_To Miss G Dursley,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_Term begins on the 1__st__ of September. We await your owl by no later than the 31__st__ of July,_

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Headmistress_

Upon finishing her letter, Gracie looked up and saw McGonagall was again smiling at her,

'You're the headmistress?' McGonagall nodded in acknowledgement,

'You are probably wondering why I have come to tell you, and not sent one of my deputies in my place?' Gracie couldn't help but stare at McGonagall. Could she read minds?

'No Miss Dursley, I cannot read minds, merely faces.' She laughed at Gracie's horrified expression,

'Do not worry; it was merely a lucky guess. However, we have more pressing issues to talk about, firstly, you are a witch. It is not an uncommon thing- we have many witches and wizards here in Britain, and it is certainly not uncommon to have unmagical parents either. Young witches and wizards, such as yourself, once they're of a certain age are sent to Hogwarts where they are educated in magic and all its forms, and most importantly they learn to control their magic and use it accordingly. Now, I have come personally to reveal your abilities to you, because I am aware that you have already a certain aptitude for magic, and if you wouldn't mind, I would like you to display this for me.' Gracie nodded and stood up slowly,

'Um, would it be ok if we went into the kitchen? Usually I can do it, but sometimes I can't, and it's just easier to clean up if I do it in the kitchen.' McGonagall nodded, obviously appreciating the reasoning behind her words and followed Gracie briskly into the small yet immaculate kitchen. Gracie reached up to the plate cupboard and selected the first one she touched, a simple white plate with blue edgings. Slowly, Gracie turned and extended her arms as McGonagall leaned forward in anticipation. The plate dropped and smashed, pieces flying all over the floor. Gracie took a deep breath and concentrated hard on the dish. Slowly, very slowly, the pieces quivered. They rattled and vibrated. With a loud snap the pieces zoomed in together and reformed the plate. McGonagall clapped, obviously impressed with her efforts, but Gracie wasn't finished yet. She pointed at the vacuum cleaner which started to vacuum the already clean floor, and at the sponge which began to wipe down the already spotless bench. McGonagall was forced to duck as the teacups flew in from the living room. Gracie however, did not notice this. She was too caught up in the magic. She felt elated, she was on cloud nine, and nothing could stop this wonderful flow of energy racing through her body.

McGonagall gave a cry of warning, which Gracie couldn't understand. She turned to the professor and saw the alarm on the older women's face, _what was going on? _Gracie thought, feeling suddenly anxious, _have I done something wrong? _With a wave Gracie cut off the magic feeding the household items and they slowly drifted back down towards the ground. Ahh. Gracie could see what she'd done now. She'd gotten too caught up in her power, too caught up in the magic and the feeling, and had evidently smashed every single dish in the kitchen. They must have gravitated towards me, Gracie thought as she surveyed the mess. McGonagall looked less than pleased now. With a wave of her stick, (which Gracie realised now, must be her magic wand) the plates reformed and zoomed back onto their respective shelfs, the whole process taking no more than ten seconds. McGonagall turned to face Gracie, and Gracie was pleased to see she looked more thoughtful than angry,

'That will do Miss Dursley. At Hogwarts we endeavour to teach our students to control their magic and concentrate their power into their studies. No doubt you will find the curriculum challenging enough, to keep you_, occupied_ for the duration of your Hogwarts career.' McGonagall rummaged around in her cloak and pulled out a second envelope.

'If you wish to attend Hogwarts fill in this admission form and seal the letter. Once the letter is sealed it will disappear and arrive in my office. When we receive your admission we will then send you your train ticket.' Seeing Gracie's confused facial expression McGonagall went on,

'Students travel to school from Kings Cross Station, from platform nine and three quarters on the Hogwarts express to be exact. If you send in the admission form we will also send you instructions, so you needn't worry too much about it just yet.' With this McGonagall rose up, and checked the time from the clock above the fridge.

'Well Miss Dursley, it certainly was a pleasure meeting you. And I look forward to seeing you again on September the 1st. If you have any further queries, feel free to contact me or I'm sure your Dad's cousin could answer any questions you may have.' Gracie, who had been following McGonagall to the door, froze at her last words,

'Dad's cousin? Dad doesn't have a cousin, does he?' McGonagall looked down over her glasses at Gracie,

'I think you'll find that he does Miss Dursley. His daughter Lily is starting this year at Hogwarts as well actually.' McGonagall's harsh features softened and she placed a hand on Gracie's shoulder,

'I really have enjoyed meeting you Gracie,' and with that McGonagall strolled out of the house, and by the time Gracie ran to the window to watch her leave, she was gone.

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><p>AN I don't own any of the characters except for Gracie- They all belong to JKR

I know that I have left some things a little _ambigious. _For example- How does McGonagall know that Gracie has preformed magic? How is it that Gracie is able to do the magic she can? I would like to stress that this isn't ignorance on my behalf, but I would like you the reader, to discover things as Gracie discovers them.

Thankyou to the lovely review left by various people- I was actually going to wait until Sunday to post, but your revies made me get this one up quickly. I think I'll post 1-2 times a week depending on my schedule,

Please review! And also check out the poll on my profile and vote for which house you think Gracie should be sorted into :)


	3. The Arrival of Harry Potter

'And then Mum pulled in the driveway, asked how my day was and found the letter. Then you arrived home Dad and here we are.' Gracie said smiling broadly at her parents. They didn't move, a shocked expression frozen on their faces. To excited to be unnerved Gracie went on,

'How cool is that? Me, a witch?' At these words a choking sound came from Dudley's throat, but Gracie continued still,

'And I get to have a magical wand and everything! I mean, won't it be handy? To have a magic wand to do things for you?' Gracie turned to face her parents and her smile faltered. They still hadn't moved. In fact, Gracie thought looking carefully at her mother, Yvonne was crying, tears running silently down her face.

'Mum? What's-' But before Gracie could finish, Yvonne got up and left the room. As Yvonne slammed her bedroom door, Gracie turned to look at Dudley, tears brimming in her eyes. Dudley had an extremely sombre face and was slowly making his way out of the chair,

'No Dad, please, don't- 'But Dudley left and made his way up to his bedroom, leaving his daughter to dissolve into tears. _Where had it gone wrong?_

* * *

><p>From then on, Yvonne's various activities and classes became more frequent, and Dudley suddenly received a massive drill order at work that he had to contend with, so they were out of the house even more than before. Breakfast and dinner were a quiet hurried affair, with both parents leaving before Gracie ever got around to asking them any questions, and arriving long after she had gone to bed. Gracie usually lay awake, waiting to see if anyone would tuck her in. They didn't.<p>

* * *

><p>On the fourth morning, Gracie decided she'd had enough and got up extra early, with the intent of talking to her parents. At the foot of the stairs Gracie heard muffled voices and paused to listen,<p>

'I just don't know what to do Dudley!'

'Well, I don't know what to tell her. I can't, can't relive that, that day Yvonne,' Gracie strained her ears. What day? What happened? Gracie heard Yvonne's voice deepen,

'Oh honey, it's ok. We all have bad memories.' Gracie bounded into the kitchen at this point and locked eyes on her parents. They were standing very close together, and Dudley was carefully stroking the long elongated scar that ran across Yvonne's chest, a scar that Yvonne never talked about and usually covered up. They were staring into each other's eyes, and for some reason, Gracie knew that for that moment, they understood each other exactly. Yvonne's eyes were pleading, and Dudley's were shut off and unresponsive. Yvonne's eyes widened and seemed to nod. Dudley's eyes wavered in return, and then the front they had put up collapsed and his eyes to seemed to nod. Yvonne spun around quickly,

'Gracie, darling, how would you like to spend a week with Dad's cousin?'

* * *

><p>Paper. Yes. It was someone rustling through paper. Now why would someone be in Gracie's room rustling through papers? Maybe it was a mouse! Maybe there was a mouse in her room! Gracie woke up suddenly and sat bolt upright, causing her mother to shriek and run out of her room, only to return a few seconds later mumbling to herself about 'blinking kids.'<p>

'What are you doing in my room Mum? And why are you packing?'

Yvonne threw clothes in the suitcase a little irritably,

'You're leaving today remember?' Gracie stared blankly (crisply) at Yvonne for a few seconds before remembering,

'Oh right, of course.'

'Yes, it'll be good, get you out in the sunshine.' Yvonne paused as she considered Gracie's shirts,

'S'far as I've seen, all you've done all holidays is sit on your bottom. Trust me honey, with your fathers genes, it wouldn't take much to get to be his stature.' Yvonne stopped packing suddenly and covered her mouth in shock,

'I'm sorry honey; I didn't mean to say that.' Gracie shrugged,

'It's ok, I've been told that every time I've ever eaten an ice-cream in my life.'

'Oh honey, come here.' Gracie scooted into her Mum's open arms, as Yvonne slowly rocked her.

'You're probably wondering about why your father and I, well, haven't really been open to you.' Gracie nodded, as she burrowed into Yvonne's chest, 'Well, it turns out you're a very special girl.'

'But I know that I'm special'

'Well, you're even more special than your father and I thought.' Yvonne paused, as she struggled for words, 'basically, you're going to go stay with your Dad's cousin for a week, and you're going to tell us what you think, and if you like what he does, you can go to this school, this Hogwarts, and if you don't, then you'll go somewhere else.' Gracie's head shot up.

'Why can't you say it mum? It's a school for witches and wizards!' Yvonne's face flushed,

'I, I, I know that Gracie, but that's all I know. Let Dad's cousin explain it all to you. He's always been better with words than your poor father.' Gracie nodded, and then started shaking her head,

'But how could Dad have a cousin? Aunt Petunia doesn't have any siblings, and there's no way anyone would want to have a kid with Aunt Marge.' Yvonne stared sternly at Gracie,

'That's rude Grace, and, well. Your father hasn't been entirely, um, _truthful _about his upbringing.' Gracie raised an eye at Yvonne,

'How so?'

But Yvonne was no longer in a mood for talking.

'Look,' she snapped, 'They'll be here in half an hour, and I still haven't finished your packing! Now scoot! Go have some breakfast or something!'

* * *

><p>Gracie sat in between her two parents as they all waited on the couch. No one talked much, but Gracie could feel the apprehension of her father, and the fretfulness of her mother. She felt indifferent herself, and was looking forward to getting out of the house more than anything. Yvonne turned to Gracie suddenly,<p>

'Now honey, these people, Dad's cousins, they're a bit different than us. So, be good won't you?'

Dudley clamped a large hand around his daughter's broad shoulder,

'She'll be a perfect angel, won't you darl?'

Gracie smiled up at Dudley who was finally talking to her again, however grudgingly, but her attention was captured by the sudden appearance of a shadow. The Dursley's looked up, and through the window they could see a figure of a person standing at the front door. A soft ringing sound echoed through the house, yet none of the Dursley's dared moved. Finally, Dudley stood up, and nervously made it towards the door. A wide smile met his lips as the door revealed the person on the other side,

'Harry!'

'Hello Dudley, how are you?'

And shaking hands with Dudley was none other than Harry Potter himself.

Of course this meant nothing to Yvonne or Gracie. Harry Potter was simply Dudley's cousin. They stood up, and Yvonne shook Harry's hand,

'Hi I'm Yvonne, Dudley's wife, and this is our daughter Gracie.' Gracie stepped forward and looked up into Harry's eyes and blinked astonishingly

'Why, you have the same eyes as me!' At this point, Gracie could see Dudley nervously fidgeting in the corner of her eye. Harry's eyes (her eyes) widened in surprise, and looking more to Dudley than Gracie he remarked,

'We do to. Now Gracie, sorry to rush you, but we have to leave pretty soon, so do you think you could get your luggage down into that car parked in the driveway?' Gracie looked around and sure enough, there was a car sitting in the Dursley's driveway, something that she was sure hadn't been there before. As she ran up and down the stairs, she caught snippets of the adult's conversation, 'She knows a little bit,' 'intelligent,' 'painted over.' These words didn't make much sense to her, but she was too excited to really care. As she carefully arranged the last bag in the boot, her parents followed by Harry, came out onto the driveway. Gracie ran into her mother's arms, as her dad fondly ruffled her hair,

'Please be good, and remember we love you, and we're sorry,' Yvonne whispered into her daughter's hair, Gracie pulled back, and wrinkled her nose, but before she could retort that she was always good, she found herself in the back seat of Harry's car, waving madly to her parents as she drove down Privet drive, and away from Surrey.

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><p>AN I don't own any of the characters except for Gracie and Yvonne,

Wow guys 1 week today and what a response! Thankyou to all who reviewed/alerted/favourited this story, it makes it all worthwhile,

I hope you're all enjoying this- don't forget to vote in the poll on my page, and bear with me- Dudley and Yvonne's past comes to light in future chapter!


	4. The Lighthouse

_**Chapter 4- The Lighthouse**_

'So you're a wizard,' Gracie asked as she attempted to gauge Harry's facial expression in the rear view mirror,

'I am,' Harry answered simply. They had been driving in silence for a good half hour, as the good natured chit chat had gradually subsided to silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence as such, Gracie thought as she watched the passing cars and houses. Rather- it was a silence of, well _secrecy _almost_._ She knew that Harry was thinking about what or even how much to tell her, all the while, she was thinking about what to ask him. There was so many questions bouncing around her head such as; _what can we magic people do exactly? Where is this school? _And most importantly, _do you think my parents will let me go?_

Gracie looked up, as if she expected Harry to answer. He didn't, but Gracie did catch him looking away, pretending he hadn't been looking at her. She giggled,

'What were you staring at?' Harry looked up into the rear view mirror, a mischievous glint very much present in his eyes,

'Sprung hey? I was looking at your eyes. I didn't expect them to be -,'

'Exactly like yours?' Gracie grinned impishly at Harry, who smiled back,

'Yeh, something like that,'

'Does anyone else have our eyes?' Harry nodded,

'Yes, your great grandmother had green eyes, as did my mother, and my middle son Albus has green eyes.' Gracie looked sharply at Harry, but said nothing. She desperately wanted to ask more about her mysterious Great aunt, _where did she come from, where did she go? _But the distant look in Harry's face told her, however grudgingly that this was not the time. Scowling, she crossed her arms angrily and moodily stared out the window, her nose turned up as it always did when she became annoyed. After a few minutes, Gracie realised she was being stupid, but for some reason, was determined to keep her nose up in the air for as long as she could. Finally tiring of this, a fresh batch of questions reached Gracie's mind,

'How many children do you have?' She asked with interest,

'Three.' Harry happily replied, 'I have two boys, James Sirius and Albus Severus, who are 14 and 13 respectively and a daughter, Lily Luna whose turning 11 in a few days actually' Gracie wrinkled her nose,

'Why do they all have such strange middle names?' Harry laughed at her distasteful expression, and Gracie swore that she saw him mouth '_Petunia' _to himself before going on,

'Every kid is named after someone, and their names are pretty normal in the wizarding world.' Harry looked up in the rear view mirror again, very serious this time,

'Now Gracie, the world I come from is very different to your world. I want you to go in with an open mind and just enjoy the next week! Alright?' Gracie nodded and felt guilty all of a sudden,

'Sorry sir, I didn't mean to sound rude, I'm just, a, well, I didn't mean to,' Gracie felt her face burn and turn red as she stumbled over her words. The last thing she wanted to sound was spoilt and ungrateful, (even though she had previously acted spoilt and ungrateful. Damn those Dursley genes) Harry shrugged,

'Call me Harry, or Uncle Harry if that's easier, and don't worry, I remember what it felt like.' They didn't say anything for the rest of the trip, but Gracie found it to be an amicable silence, not the strange secretative awkward silence they had shared previously.

Just as Gracie began to consider complaining about the long car trip and asking how much longer they had to go, Harry suddenly veered straight off the road and into a thick clump of trees. Before she could scream out her alarm she found that the tree's jumped to the side and parted for them. Harry looked at Gracie and laughed at her amazed expression. The thick woods suddenly opened up into a large green field, and in front of the car was a large house, the Potter's house.

Gracie was quite the critic when it came to houses. She was always scanning the papers for beautiful houses, and loved house hunting on the internet. There wasn't much that impressed her, her sharp eyes quickly picking out potential problems and downfalls of various designs. But this house was an exception. It was beautiful. A Queen Anne style home, it had large sweeping verandas and beautiful red brick adjourning the large roof. Gracie couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship in the veranda poles, and even noticed a seemingly invisible balcony, which granted would provide amazing views of the forest surrounding them. As Gracie got out of the car and neared steps leading to the veranda, she also noticed a sign above the front door which read, '_Dormus Potter.' _

'Uncle Harry, what does _Dormus Potter _mean?'

Harry wrinkled his face in distaste as Gracie giggled,

'It means Potter Home, but we usually refer to this place as the "lighthouse",' Gracie raised her eyebrows and smirked,

'And why's that?' She asked barely suppressing giggles, the _lighthouse?_ It sounded funny,

'Well, actually it was Lily who came up with it. We were coming home from the Burrow one time, and Lily remarked how our house was like a lighthouse, a bit of light in an otherwise sea of darkness. I was so impressed with her reasoning, the name stuck' Harry smiled fondly at this memory, before he fumbled about with his coat, trying to locate something. Before Gracie could ask what the 'Burrow' was Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at the boot of the car, which blasted open. With a quick wave, Gracie's bags levitated out of the boot and lazily made their way towards the house. Gracie watched enthralled and stared at Harry's wand enviously,

'When can I get one of those?' Harry pocketed his wand and replied,

'Soon. That is, of course if you decide that you want to go to Hogwarts. Now, let me show you around,'

As Gracie entered the front hallway she had an overwhelming feeling engulf her. It was a feeling of, _home._ Photo's proudly adjourned the wall, and the soft cream carpet was slightly torn and stained in places- heavily contrasting with the utter pristine carpet found in Number 4 Privett Drive. Harry must have noticed the direction of Gracie's eyes because he remarked,

'I told her she was crazy. Cream carpet? But she was adamant, only cream carpet would grace the front hallway of Mrs Potter's home.' But before Gracie could reply about how beautiful she found the carpet to be, a roar erupted from the room to the right,

'JAMES GIVE IT BACK,'

'Why? Surely you of all people Albus would know that sharing is caring. I mean, what would Mum and Dad say, if they found Little Albie not sharing with- RUDDY HELL, GET OFF ME!' Scuffling noises could be heard as the voices ceased, replaced instead by grunts and thuds. Harry quickly threw open the door, revealing two teenage boys wrestling on the floor. As soon as they caught sight of Harry and Gracie they stopped, panicked expressions frozen on their guilty faces. They looked identical, apart from the fact that one was obviously older and bigger, with hazel eyes, whilst the younger smaller one had brilliant green eyes- _another lot like hers,_ Gracie thought. The boys stayed were they were- frozen and motionless, the smaller one's hand still pulled back, ready to punch. Harry turned towards Gracie and in a slightly bemused yet disappointed voice he remarked,

'Gracie I'd like you to meet your cousins James and Albus Potter.'

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><p>AN apart from a select few, I don't own the Harry Potter characters.

Wow guys awesome response! Please keep reviewing and voting on my poll!

I had such an overwhelming response I decided to get the next chapter up as quickly as I could!

Enjoy!


	5. Dinner with the Potter's

'So Gracie, how are you finding everything so far?' Ginny Potter asked, smiling at Gracie, as they ate their meal. Gracie, who had been playing with her food absentmindedly, looked up blankly (crisply) before answering,

'Oh, right. Yes, um different, good, great I mean.' Gracie looked down again at her untouched food and after awhile remarked,

'We don't usually eat vegies at my house.' Ginny gave Gracie a confused yet calculating look,

'Do you not like the food Gracie?' Gracie shrugged and shook her head,

'No its ok, just something different.' Picking up her cutlery with a flourish Gracie started eating, mainly to please Ginny, and staring dreamily into the distance began to reflect on the afternoon. She was knackered. After figuring out who Gracie was, James had enthustically taken to giving her a tour of the entire house, which included various random comments such as,

'And there, see there Gracie! That's where Albus threw up one time,'

And,

'See over there Gracie, see in that corner? That's where I was when I discovered dungbombs. They'd fallen out of my uncle's jacket! Ahh my passion for joking started at such a young impressionable age'

Gracie glanced over at James, who was now sitting next to Albus, and when Albus wasn't looking, unloading some of his vegies from his plate onto Albus'. As Gracie was watching James' pleased expression, and Albus' bewildered expression on finding yet more vegies on his plate, Harry turned to Ginny, and started to have a conversation about the 'Ministry' and something about their latest capture of a 'death eater,' whatever that was. Hearing these words, James' head shot up, plate still in midair with vegetables slowly sliding towards Albus' plate,

'What's this Dad?'

'Well James, we were talking about how large your ears are becoming. I mean, I can see them flapping almost,' Harry teased as Ginny lightly slapped her son around the head,

'Ouch Mum! Well c'mon, spill Dad!' Harry looked at Ginny, who shook her head cocking it in Gracie's direction. It was a look that clearly said, _'No details in front of the 11 year old.' _Keeping this in mind, Harry turned to James, carefully formulated his response, and replied,

'Basically, we've captured another couple of death eaters, but it isn't a cause for celebration,' Harry said rather sharply, as James starting whooping.

'It's just another day in the job.' Gracie, who had been very quiet, glanced over at James, who had become rather subdue and cross after his berating. She then let her eyes wander, and found that they rested on an empty chair,

'Didn't you say you had a daughter Uncle Harry?' Harry frowned at the chair, as Ginny stifled giggles and leaned towards Gracie,

'Yes, he does. She's actually at one of her muggle friend's places for a few nights, a last sleepover before she goes, you know, because she can't tell her friends anything about Hogwarts or anything like that, so Harry and I decided to let the Lily have a few last sleepovers with her friends, as a final kind of goodbye almost.' Whilst she was talking, Ginny had reached over and grabbed Harry's hand and was stroking it with her thumb; upon finishing he smiled meekly back at her, making Ginny laugh,

'You are a right softy! Can't survive without your daughter for a few days! What are you going to do when she goes away to Hogwarts this year hmm?' Harry mumbled something unintelligible as Gracie and Ginny laughed at his sombre expression. After a few more minutes, Gracie tentatively asked,

'Um, what are muggles exactly Aunt Ginny?'

'Non magic folk. For example, your parents are muggles, because they can't do magic.' Ginny said simply, waving her wand, making the plates disappear and reappear clean in their respective cupboards. Gracie stared open mouthed at Ginny as she winked,

'Ah, you liked that one did you? My sister-in-law was on the experimental charms committee for awhile there, and that's one she came up with. I knew that there was a good reason for keeping her around. Now your room,' Ginny got up quickly and beckoned Gracie to follow her. After saying a gracious goodnight to Harry and the boys, Gracie stumbled after the fiery redhead as she teared through the corridors of the expansive Potter Home at a fiery pace which Gracie struggled to keep up with. She found that Ginny was a bit different to Yvonne. She seemed younger, and full of energy. Whilst this Mother had spent the evening before dinner animatedly explaining 'Quidditch' to Gracie (who still didn't really see the fuss) her Mother would've spent the evening quietly knitting, or having a nice gentle conversation with her father, a conversation that wouldn't 'stretch him too much,' (for there was nothing worse than a confused and overworked Dudley to contend with in the morning). Suddenly Gracie found herself standing in a bedroom, with light blue walls, a light beige carpet with pine furniture arranged haphazardly. Gracie wasn't sure about the colours, and if they matched exactly, but she still appreciated that it would be a great bedroom to stay in. At least Ginny seemed to think so to,

'Here you go Gracie; this fine room will be your room for the week.' Gracie nodded, and noticed her suitcase sitting at the foot of her bed. Ginny motioned towards the back of the door,

'There's a towel hanging on the back of this door, and just give us a shout out if you need anything alright?' Ginny came forward and hugged Gracie suddenly. Gracie returned the hug, and was reminded again of her mother, who always gave the sweetest and most comforting hugs.

'I know it must be hard, but hang in there ok? Tomorrow, you'll get some answers, but right now, you need to sleep.' Ginny looked down into Gracie's beautiful green eyes and smiled,

'I see what he means, you look exactly like her.' Gracie attention reverted from Yvonne to Ginny immediately,

'Like who?' Ginny laughed and dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand,

'You'll find out tomorrow,' she said as she waved good night and left shut the door, leaving Gracie to wonder who this mysterious person everyone said she looked like was.

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><p>'So what are we doing today?' Gracie asked as she bounced into the kitchen. Pulling up a chair, she looked around expectantly. Ginny smiled at Gracie and Gracie could tell that she was noting her exuberance,<p>

'Someone's excited to be alive today huh?' Gracie nodded vigoursly,

'I've just realised how cool and exciting this is! I mean, you're magic! You didn't even have to hand wash the dishes last night!' Ginny started laughing, as Gracie's face fell

'What's wrong? What have I said?' Ginny, who was wiping tears from her eyes, composed herself slightly before saying,

'Oh you're just funny that's all! You just make me laugh!' Gracie grinned impishly and poked her tongue out at Ginny, her poked hers back.

'Ah, a tongue fest I see. I'll never understand you women,' Came the announcing voice of James Potter as he waltzed into the kitchen, his hair rumpled and sticking up in all angles. Ginny gravitated towards it immediately, trying to flatten it as James endeavoured to evade her incoming hands,

'I wouldn't mind it, _James_, if you, _James_, had it sticking up in one direction, _JAMES SIRIUS POTTER YOU WILL STOP WRIGGLING RIGHT THIS INSTANCE!_' James froze for a second, which was enough time for Ginny to flatten his hair, before he lunged for the kitchen bench. Laughing and dusting her hands, Ginny triumphantly returned to the island bench where she had been making omelettes for breakfast as James sulked silently about his now flattened hair. Gracie inched over to him and whispered that she thought it looked better tousled up in all directions as well in a bid to cheer him up. It was all the encouragement James needed, and almost immediately, he began animatedly talking again, this time about dragons,

'Oh you should see the burns Uncle Charlie has Gracie!' Albus entered sometime through this conversation and contributed to it with comments like,

'And female dragons are the worst! They will actually tear you to shreds!' and

'There was once one at school! Hagrid kept in his hut. A dragon, a real live dangerous dragon at Hogwarts! How about that!'

Noting how pale Gracie had become, Ginny effectively ended the conversation by serving up the omelettes, which didn't last long. Relaxing back in the kitchen chair, Albus remarked,

'Not as good as Grandma Weasley's, but they're getting there Mum,' Ginny grimaced at these words,

'_Thanks _Albus.' She said as Gracie and James giggled. Looking around, Gracie noticed that Harry still hadn't come down for breakfast and asked Ginny about it. Sighing slightly she replied,

'He's had to go into work this morning. He's going to finish around lunchtime, swing by and pick Lily up and then come home. Now, today I thought that James and Albus could show you around our property, and this afternoon we might do a little flying? But before that, I have a garden that needs degnoming.' James and Albus started protesting but this was short-lived as the three kids suddenly found themselves out in the garden rolling up their sleeves. Gracie stared around the yard, which had green grass and random flowerbeds dotted here and there. Next to the lawn were strange plants, the strangest greens, pinks and blues all found together, shapes and colours that she didn't think possible. There was even one plant that somewhat resembled a cactus that had clocks growing on its tips. Before Gracie could properly explore the garden she heard a loud wail and Albus swearing. She turned around to find him holding what looked like a fat potato with a head, arms and legs,

'_This_,' said Albus seriously, 'Is a gnome.' James appeared with two in his hands and seeing Gracie's shocked and disgusted expression remarked,

'And _this,_' He said swinging the gnome around and around, making Gracie feel dizzy, 'is going to be a fun day.'

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><p><strong>AN Sorry for the delay, just got back from my holiday which was amazing! **

**Thankyou to my reviewers and feel free to keep them coming,**

**Thanks!**


	6. A Flying Lesson

_**A Flying Lesson**_

'I don't know about this Aunt Ginny,' Gracie squeaked as Ginny exasperatedly crossed her arms and looked angrily at Gracie,

'I have told you a billion times- _this is a safe way of travelling as long as the rider is switched on. _You are a very switched on kind of person Gracie- so you'll be fine.' Gracie nodded, her face returning to a passive yet neutral expression. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Ginny, who had just spent the past two hours meticulously explaining Quidditch right down to its minute details (details like the preferred foot position for casual broom riding and so on). Ginny, seeing the change of expression, mistook the new facial expression as a sign of determination and proclaimed,

'That's the spirit! Now, we've been through this,' Seeing that Gracie had stared off into space, dreamingly thinking of later on that day when she was finally going to meet Lily, Ginny clapped in front of Gracie's nose, immediately commandeering her attention,

'Let's get our heads out of the clouds Miss Thinker and get the rest of yourself up there too!' Mounting her broom, Gracie felt the strangest feeling surge through her- familiarity. Before she could think much more about where this sudden familiar feeling had come from, Ginny had mounted her broom and signalled for her to start. Synchronised, Ginny and Gracie kicked off from the ground, an invisible force of air cascading out of their way as the pair shot up high into the sky. Flying was, unreal. Ferocious wind pressed against her in a bid to blow her backwards, but the broom seemed to respond to this, and descended to where the wind had less bite, allowing an appreciative Gracie to ponder about flying.

She felt as if she had no balance and might topple over at any moment- but also felt as if she was in control and that there was nothing she couldn't do. Gracie found her broom to be top notch and very receptive, and it responded so willingly- sometimes even before she decided what she wanted to do- it would go somewhere on its own accord. It was all good fun at first, zooming around, laughing at the occasional direction change her spontaneous broom made. Yet the direction changes got sharper, and it started to happen more often. Panicking, Gracie tried to call out to Ginny, but her broom shot backwards, and screaming, Gracie plunged forwards and began to plummet.

The wind compacted against her face as she spiralled down, her body moving uselessly as she attempted to do something, anything to stop falling. As Gracie arched her back desperately, trying to look up at Ginny, she heard a funny crack. A strange liquid sensation seemed to flow out of this crack filling her body. It wasn't blood she decided as the strange substance made its way to the end of her fingers and toes. This fluid was fast yet flexible, its power surging through her veins. With this strange liquid sensation inside of her Gracie found herself able to see everything extremely clearly, every minute leaf and twig on the imminent ground became highly defined as she took it all in. A strange force began building up inside as the energy sucked itself up from the crevices of her body and concentrated around her chest. Gracie outstretched her hand and started muttering, strange words which she didn't understand rolling off her tongue. She wanted to stop and get rid of this weird fluid feeling, but the impending ground was so close now that she couldn't see how doing a bit of chanting could possibly harm her chances. She was now a hundred meters from the ground and was still free falling. Ninety meters from the ground. Eighty. Seventy. Sixty. She could vaguely hear panicked shouts up above, but was concentrating to hard on her muttering to listen properly. Thirty. Twenty. NOW.

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><p>Gracie, feeling dazed, rolled over on her side and to her relief, found herself firmly on the ground. She wiggled her fingers and toes- something Yvonne had told her to do if she ever suspected she'd broken something, (Yvonne had told her this because once when Gracie was five, she had fallen down a one meter high plastic slide and had demanded to be taken to a hospital because she had probably now developed a cyst or a cancerous tumour like the person on last week's episode of House had. Yvonne, who was pregnant at the time, didn't have time for Gracie's drama, so bending down as far as she could Yvonne had told her; 'Now darling if you can wiggle your toes and fingers than nothing's broken.') Gracie frowned at this memory. <em>Pregnant?<em> Yvonne was pregnant? Gracie began to rack her memories, trying to remember if this really was the case, and if it was, where had the baby gone, when Ginny skidded down next to her, abandoning her broom as she leant over Gracie,

'Gracie! Grace, blink it you can hear me,' Gracie blinked and smiled at Ginny, who smiled back, settling back onto the ground relieved, before bouncing back up onto her knees, carefully examining Gracie as she barked,

'Ok, blink if you are in any pain whatsoever.' Gracie felt the chocolate brown eyes staring into her green eyes, and she was careful not to let hers waver. Ginny grabbed Gracie's hand joyfully and rubbed it, before seemingly remembering that Gracie had just fallen out of the sky. Frowning Ginny backwards, brushing the dirt of her shirt and said,

'Gracie, I'm really chuffed that you're ok. But what happened? Why did you make your broom go backwards like that? I thought we talked about how dangerous pulling a stunt like that is,' Gracie shook her head,

'No, no, no, it wasn't me!' Seeing Ginny's incredulous look, Gracie suddenly felt extremely childish, and sitting upright she began to flap her arms in exasperation,

'No it wasn't! It was my broom!' Ginny raised an eyebrow at this remark,

'Your broom?' Ginny said slowly, looking disbelievingly at Gracie, 'Your broom decided to shoot backwards now did it?' Gracie nodded, tears welling up in her eyes,

'Yes it did! At first it was just change direction a little, but then it became really rough and threw me off. I didn't fall out of the sky on purpose. My broom had a mind of its own.' Ginny stared at Gracie,

'What do you mean _it had a mind of its own?_' Gracie didn't like Ginny's inflection, and began twiddling her thumbs as she talked,

'Well I'd be riding it and then without me thinking about it, it would randomly change direction. But that's normal for brooms, isn't it?' Ginny sat back and looked out over the field, thinking deeply. After a few minutes she tentatively replied,

'No, it means someone's been tampering with the brooms. They wanted you to fall.' Gracie looked up wide eyed at Ginny as she slowly inched herself up onto her feet,

'But, why, why would someone, why would someone want me to fall out of the sky?' But Ginny was shaking her head and getting up herself,

'C'mon' She said, putting her arms comfortingly around Gracie's shoulder, 'Harry'll be home now, and I think that's it's time that we had a little conversation about you and the wizarding world- and you in turn can tell us how the hell you managed to not be splattered in a million pieces over the ground' Gracie grinned appreciatively at these words and was glad for the slight subject change,

'Now _that's_ an interesting story'

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><p>AN

How did Gracie survive that one? And what will be revealed to Gracie? It's all in the next chapter folks!

Apart from Yvonne and Gracie Dursley most of these characters are those of JKR and I do not own them, or anything of the like,

Thanks for all the reviews guys and feel free to keep leaving them! I love to know if what I'm doing is working or not,

Also don't forget to **VOTE ON MY POLL ON MY PROFILE**- which house should Gracie be sorted into?

Stay tuned!


	7. The Meeting

'You did _what?' _Harry blanched looking at Gracie horrified. Gracie huffed and rolled her eyes slightly. She was getting sick of trying to explain how she stopped herself from hitting the ground, and she didn't see what was so great about it. It wasn't the first time she had done phenomenal magic accidently and was sure it wouldn't be the last, so she didn't see what the big deal was. Grumpily she drew in a breath and started again,

'I just harnessed the energy- the magic from within me and I pushed it out. I pushed the magic out of my palms and, it felt like, like wings or something sprouted from my back.' She paused and thought for a few seconds, her face contorted in concentration, 'I could feel these big things beating on my back, and I just floated down to the ground. And that's what happened. It did!' Gracie retorted as Harry shook his head,

'Gracie, we're wizards not angels.' Gracie sat back in the armchair in Harry's office with pursed lips and crossed arms. She saw Harry and Ginny share a look, but for that moment she couldn't care less about how she was acting. _How dare Harry doubt her, _Gracie thought angrily. She had flown. She knew she had. It was so much more magical than flying on a broom had been, because she was supporting herself as she flew, and not relying on a flimsy piece of wood to support her. Before she could brood for long however Harry began to speak again, rubbing his temples fretfully,

'Look, it doesn't really matter how you didn't hurt yourself. What matters is you understanding exactly what happened today. I had my partner Ron Weasley follow up on the broom you were riding, and it was planted.' Gracie stared flabbergasted at Harry, all traces of a pout gone, replaced by a look of shock,

'By who exactly Uncle Harry? Who?' Gracie asked her words and syllables wavering. She watched Harry intently as he shrugged and leaned forward to clean his glasses before replying,

'We have some leads, but we basically know the group it was planted by.' Looking calculatingly at Gracie he said,

'Gracie, have you heard of the term Death eater, or Voldemort before?' Gracie racked her brains, but these foreign words held no meaning for her,

'Are they who planted my broom?' Harry shook his head,

'No, but it's important you understand the context or the situation before I can tell you about what happened today.' Looking very seriously over at Gracie, he started to speak, this time in a much lower and pained tone,

'Now Gracie, you may not like what I say. But just hear everything I have to say until the end, ok?' Gracie nodded, and Harry satisfied, began to speak,

'I was born on the 31st of July, 1980 to Lily and James Potter. My Mum's maiden name was Evans, and yes,' Harry said, a twinkle in his eye as he recognised the look of realisation on Gracie's face,

'She was your mother's sister. Petunia Dursley wasn't an only child.' Seeing Gracie's angered facial expression, Harry pressed on,

'Grace, I'm telling you the truth. My parents were both murdered by Voldemort on the 31st of October, Halloween the year after I was born. After being orphaned the only place I had to go was your grandparents place.' As Harry explained his upbringing with the Dursley and how the events surrounding his parent's death were kept from him, Gracie found that her mind had gone surprisingly blank. How could it be? There was definitely no way Grandma could've had a sister, so surely there was some mistake here. For as long as Gracie could remember there had never been any mention of Harry, and no evidence that he had ever lived at number four Privett drive. Gracie, spoke out suddenly, interrupting Harry in the middle of his boa constrictor story, and told him this. Harry raised his eyebrows and looked calculating at Gracie,

'Did you ever check in the cupboard under the stairs?' No, Gracie scoffed, why would she poke around in there? Looking her square in the eye Harry had replied,

'Because that was where I slept. Don't you believe me Gracie?' Gracie shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes,

'No I don't! I don't believe you! No one has ever mentioned you, and I have seen nothing that looks like it'd belong to you! How do I know you're even related to me apart from our eyes?' Before Gracie could say anything else Harry stood up abruptly, and strode over to the massive bookcase that dominated two walls of his expansive study where he began to feverishly search through the shelfs. Picking out a rather modest leather bound book, and looking at it fondly he handed it to Gracie who looked at the book curiously before opening it. Inside were photos of a beautiful red haired lady and a handsome dark haired man. Gracie mused that the man must be Harry's father as the appearance was uncanny, and supposed the women must have been his mother. She certainly was beautiful; Gracie contemplated, looking closely at the laughing woman. Her hair was a deep red and curly, much like Gracie's, and she had the same nice oval face. They even had the same eyes, the same green twinkling eyes. In fact, if you didn't know any better,

'She looks exactly like me.' Gracie whispered. Harry nodded slowly.

'You do have an uncanny resemblance to her; if I didn't know any better I'd say that you haven't inherited a single gene from your mother and are in fact a complete carbon copy of Mum,' Gracie smiled at Harry's kindness, all traces of doubt and anger gone,

'Thanks Uncle Harry, but I am a bit like Dad. You saw me before, pouting and carrying on.' Harry smiled,

'The fact that you can recognise this fault makes you very similar to Lily Evans. And we need something off about ourselves to spruce life up a bit don't we?' Harry became serious again and sat back down,

'The person who killed my parents, Voldemort, was the worst wizard of our time. He and his army of death eaters sought to rid the world of undesirables and to rule above muggles. Undesirables included people who were magic but had muggle parents and so on,' he explained, seeing Gracie's confusion.

'Basically, in what's referred to as the Battle of Hogwarts I was able to kill Voldemort and end the war that had been waged between Voldemort and the Wizarding community. Most of his followers were rounded up fairly quickly, but in recent years we've had the development of Neo- Death eaters, who are people that believe that Voldemort had the right ideas about how our world should be. They planted the broom because they wanted to scare you, and to prevent you from entering the wizarding world. It happens a lot with children with muggle parents who get accepted into Hogwarts. But there is nothing wrong with having parents who aren't magic. Some people just have funny ideas about the world.' Gracie nodded slowly, letting the information sink in,

'So it's nothing against me personally? It's because my parents are both muggles?' Harry shrugged and sank down into his office chair, running his hand through his greying hair,

'Most probably, the fact that you are my unknown cousin may have been an attributing factor as well.' He was silent for a few moments, before he began to speak again,

'Gracie, there's no doubt about it. You're going to have to be careful and keep your wits about you when you're not at Hogwarts. But as long as you don't go off on your own, you'll be safe with us. And look, you've already proved that your wandless magic is good enough to keep you from any real harm hey?' Grinning at Harry, Gracie nodded and got off her chair with the intent of going to the kitchen to get the biscuits Ginny had promised to make earlier that morning. However as she reached the door Gracie couldn't help but turn with her nose in the air and remark,

'I still don't believe you lived at Privett drive Uncle Harry. I think of all people would have known if you had.' And leaving Harry to shake his hand at her stubbornness Gracie made her way over to the kitchen where she could already smell the baked biscuits.

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><p>James and Albus had evidently been and gone leaving an empty plate that would have only minutes before held twelve freshly baked biscuits. As Gracie stared shocked at the empty plate a soft voice spoke up behind her,<p>

'Here, Mum usually hides a few in the cupboard,' spinning around Gracie found herself face to face with who had to be Lily Potter. The girls stared at each other for a few moments, taking in each other's appearances. Gracie decided that Lily looked more like Ginny, with the same bright red hair and bright brown eyes. Harry was present still, mainly in her smile and the shape of her eyes. She was quite pretty, Gracie decided, but thought that her deep red hair and sparkly green eyes were nicer than Lily's bright red hair and brown eyes. Noticing for the first time that Lily had been holding a plate of biscuits out to Gracie she self consciously took one,

'Thanks' Gracie replied as she began to eat the biscuit. Lily's eyes twinkled as she watched Gracie's eyes fly open and quicken the devouring of the biscuit,

'She may not be much of a dinner cooker, but gee Aunt Ginny sure knows how to make biscuits!' Lily laughed at this comment as Gracie wild eyed snapped another biscuit from the plate,

'Of course these biscuits are amazing- they're Grandma's recipe! I'm Lily by the way, are you Gracie?'

Gracie nodded, her mouth full of biscuit and therefore unable to answer, making Lily giggle again.

'You're starting at Hogwarts this year as well? Me to! Wow so it'll be you me and Hugie in the same year! I wonder if we'll be in the same house?' Gracie cocked her head at Lily,

'Houses?' She asked through a mouthful of biscuit. Obviously now a little put out by Gracie's eating, Lily's smile faltered a little,

'It's ok you know, there's plenty more biscuits, you can, you know, slow down a bit.' Gracie's eyes narrowed at this comment. How dare she criticise her method of eating? Sensing her anger Lily was quick to resume the conversation,

'Right, so, there are four houses at School. The best house is Gryffindor, that's the house Mummy and Daddy were in, and you go to Gryffindor if you're brave. Then there's Ravenclaw which you go to if you're extremely intelligent, and Hufflepuff which you go to if you're loyal and honest and finally there's Slytherin which you go to if you're cunning. D'you know Al nearly went to Slytherin? He didn't though, the hat thought he was a true Gryffindor, I wonder what the hat will say about m?.' Gracie nodded politely as Lily talked, mulling over her words. She wondered which house she would go to. Really, Gracie thought, as Lily started to explain what Pygmy puffs were and how adorable they are, it probably didn't matter that much,

'D'you wanna see mine?' Lily asked staring intently at Gracie. Feeling bad for zoning out of their conversation, Gracie smiled awkwardly at Lily,

'Sorry, see what?' Lily shook her head from side to side giggling,

'Silly! See my Chocolate Card collection!' Gracie shrugged and couldn't help but giggle along with Lily's infectious laugh,

'Alright,' and with that the two girls spent the rest of the afternoon shut up in Lily's room, where giggles could be ringing down the stair case, much to the delight of Harry and Ginny.

* * *

><p>AN I own Gracie and Yvonne Dursley, but the rest I do not,

Hi all!

Thanks for the reviews- could always do with more! Sorry for the slow update, real life catches up with you from time to time.

I hope you're all enjoying this, and if you are please do tell! And remember to vote on my poll which house Gracie should go to,

Thanks!


	8. Diagon Alley

'Welcome,' said Harry as the wall opened up to reveal a busy street, 'To Diagon Alley.'

It was incredible.

The street seemed to stretch on and on, far longer than any other street Gracie had ever seen, and it was crammed with hundreds of shops, colourful signs and moving posters showing the products the shops sold. For a long endless street, it was also a crowded one, with Gracie having her toes stepped on constantly (more so by James than anyone else). There were music shops selling wizard albums, book shops, stationary shops, clothes shops, furniture shops and there was even a shop dedicated training cats how to stay on the end of brooms as their owners flew around. As Gracie walked, looking around wide mouthed like a banshee (according to Albus anyway) she heard someone snigger. Gracie turned around abruptly at this, her eyes narrowing as she searched for the source of the sound. She caught sight of a dark haired boy who was looking around with wide eyes and an even wider mouth as his friend threw back his head in laughter. Gracie pursued her lips, and was about to go give those boys a good talking to when Harry, sensing her anger steered her towards a clothes shop.

'Here, let's go get your Hogwarts robes.' Gracie nodded somewhat dejectedly as she stepped into the shop. For the entire duration of her fitting, Gracie found herself staring crossly at the boys through the window as they continued to mock her, their grins becoming increasingly gleeful as Gracie's lips pursued more and more, her eyes flashing dangerously. As soon as the fitting was over, Gracie raced out onto the street, only to see out of the corner of her eyes the two boy's hooning up the street, laughing the whole way. Harry appeared at her side, and put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly as Lily exited a few moments later, animatedly chatting to her mother about her new school robes.

'I wouldn't waste my time worrying over them Gracie, let their mothers be their mothers alright?' Gracie nodded, but couldn't let the feeling of annoyance drop completely, something she found to be strange.

* * *

><p>After paying with the money her parents had sent over the day before (which Harry had then had to convert into Wizarding Money before they set off) for her books a few hours later Gracie felt exhausted. They had taken extra long at most stores because Lily had insisted on inspecting everything, such as the cauldron store where she inspected single identical pewter cauldron before settling on one that was exactly the same as the others ('It's not, the bottoms flatter,' Lily had retorted when Gracie complained), and generally taking her time finding what she needed. At first Gracie hadn't minded because it gave her chance to investigate all the strange shelfs and shops they were entering at great lengths. However it was getting ridiculous and Gracie found herself struggling with the vast amount of shopping bags that hung heavily on her arms. Noticing Gracie's straining arms, Harry took her shopping bags from her and leaning down whispered,<p>

'I think my Lily flower is going to take awhile deciding exactly what quill she requires, how about you and I go get your wand now?' Gracie felt a new energy surge through her at these wands and immediately began to drag Harry out of the shop. Finally, she was getting her wand.

'So how where will I get my wand Uncle Harry?' Harry looked down at Gracie and smiled at the flushed pink colour that had arisen on her cheeks, contrastingly prettily with her dark red hair,

'We'll go to Ollivanders, he's the best. He's getting on a bit, and is a little ill at the moment, but still brilliant at what he does.' Gracie nodded slowly as the shop came into view, too excited to notice the nostalgic expression on Harry's face. For such a small street front, inside the shop appeared to stretch on and on, with rows and rows of bookcases holding thousands of little boxes. Gracie gulped as she saw the vast variety of boxes, and sincerely hoped that they wouldn't need to go through every box before she found the right one. As she glanced around, a soft voice rang out through the shop,

'Good afternoon Mr Potter, and if I didn't know any better Miss Lily Evans,' Harry smiled at the old man who had suddenly appeared in front of them, something that frightened Gracie a little causing her to stand behind Harry,

'Nice to see you Mr Ollivander, and no this is my cousin Gracie.' Ollivander shuffled around Harry and bent down to stare intently at Gracie, his piercing blue eyes unwavering as he took in Gracie's wide eyed green eyes. Pulling back suddenly he looked sceptically at Harry,

'The resemblance is truly uncanny. Miss Gracie is requiring a wand I suppose? And what of Miss Potter?'

'She's going to come in a little while. We left her as she was deciding which quill to buy.' Ollivander nodded and turned to Gracie,

'Well we better get started. Please raise your wand arm.' Gracie stared incredulously at Ollivander, still half hiding behind Harry,

'Please hold out your wand arm. That's the ticket' He praised as Gracie tentatively raised her right arm, a measuring tape appearing out of thin air measuring the length and width of her arm before moving onto her head and legs. Gracie felt rather out of place, standing there with a tape measure measuring every surface area of her body as Ollivander whisked away, pulling down boxes and muttering to himself. After measuring her nail cuticles, he reappeared with several boxes.

'These should do, here try this one, Oak and Phoenix feather, 10 inches, nice and airy' Gracie felt a feeling of excitement fill her, as she grabbed the wand Ollivander presented. No sooner had she grasped the handle however Ollivander whipped it out of her grip,

'Try this, Willow and Phoenix feather, 12 and a half inches, excellent for charm work' Gracie had barely clasped the handle when Ollivander whipped the wand out of her grip again,

'Not quite. Here try this, Acacia and Dragon heart-string, 11 inches, good for strength and defensive spells.' Immediately Gracie felt a kinship to this wand. She thought it was pretty, with a detailed handle and long smooth shaft, Gracie received the wand with confidence. The warm feeling inside of her resonated with the warm feeling of the wand, and Gracie felt more as if she was being greeted by an old friend. Raising the wand Gracie swirled it around and round, causing the whole of Ollivanders shop to be covered with the snowflakes that erupted from Gracie's wand. Ollivander vanished the snowflakes with his own wand and stared at Gracie inquisitively,

'Most show me sparks, I've had very few show me snowflakes.' Feeling somewhat self conscious now, Gracie grabbed her arm awkwardly, swaying from side to side,

'It that a good thing or a bad thing?' Ollivander shook his head,

'It is neither good nor bad, simply curious. That will be nine galleons and two knuts please.'

* * *

><p>As Harry and Lily left Ollivanders they spotted Ginny dragging Lily up the street towards them,<p>

'Sorry Harry, we'll be another 15mins at least getting Missy Moo here her wand, and then Lily was talking about getting an Owl with her pocket money, but we'll see how she goes. I think I last saw James and Albus in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, could you find them for me and take them to McClaw's Animal shop please?' Harry nodded and waved to his wife as she forcedly dragged Lily away from the stationary shop where she had evidently been unable to decide yet on which quill she wanted. Harry steered Gracie towards McClaw's and told her she could have a little look while he went and got the boys.

Stepping inside the shop, Gracie couldn't believe how many animals the tiny room held. There were the animals Gracie expected to see in a Wizard animal shop (such as the cats, owls and toads) but there were also a cage full of what looked like fairies, another full of creatures that changed from furry fluff balls to tiny birds as well as two majestic red and yellow birds who crooned a sweet song from their perch. A burgundy faced woman appeared at Gracie's elbow and in a giggly voice asked,

'What is it you're looking for m'dear?' Gracie jumped at her words and noticed that the shop became deadly quiet. The animals seemed to have suddenly noticed Gracie's arrival because they were all staring at her. Abruptly they were in a flurry of activity again, owls proudly flapping their wings, rats skipping around their cages, and toads jumping whilst looking expectantly at her. The shop lady noticing Gracie's interest in the animals' behaviour dismissed it with a wave of her hand,

'Oh don't mind them. They're eager for a home and will go to any lengths to get noticed. Now what animal were you interested in?' Gracie shrugged.

'I was just looking really. I've never had a pet before' the shop lady raised her eyebrows at Gracie,

'Well you'll want something relatively easy then. Toads are easy; as are owls, but your safest bet would be a cat. They're pretty good about looking out for themselves and keeping out of trouble.' Gracie smiled at the shop lady,

'They sound lovely; can I see your cats?' The shop lady nodded, satisfaction already present on her face,

'Well, we have kittens at the moment. Come and have a gander.' Walking to the back of the shop, the lady returned a minute later with a large crate. Inside were eight kittens, all scrambling over each other. The lady tipped them roughly onto the floor, causing them to meow loudly. Most of the kittens ignored Gracie, favouring the unfamiliar surroundings over the unfamiliar girl. Feeling rather dejected, Gracie sat back when she noticed another cat sitting on a bench staring straight into her eyes. Slinking down slowly, the cat made its way cautiously over to Gracie, before jumping with surprising speed into her lap. The cat was no more than six months old, but it had a strange intelligence about it. It was silvery grey in colour, and had a rather pretty heart shape nose. But easily the cats defining feature was its green eyes, almost the exact shade of Gracie's. The cat seemed to recognise this as it stared intently into Gracie's eyes, its gaze unwavering. Finally the cat purred and rubbed itself against Gracie's shoulder as she laughed, stroking the beautiful cat. The shop lady, who had been busy rounding up the wayward kittens, reappeared at Gracie's side. Gracie beamed up at the shop lady as the cat curled up in her lap,

'I want this cat! It's gorgeous!' The shop lady's face broke into a wide smile as she realised that a transaction was certain to be made

'I have never seen that cat so affectionate,' she remarked watching the cat as it settled down into Gracie's lap,

'He's a Korat cat, well known for their elegance, loyalty, elegance and playfulness and of course those mesmerising eyes. If you are interested he is a mere 20 galleons.'

'That seems a bit much for a school girl don't you think Lavender?' The lady's head shot up, and a with a slight squeal ran over to where Harry was now standing in the doorway with his sons,

'Harry it has been to long!' She cried giving Harry a kiss on the cheek,

'How have you been? Come to buy an owl for the next one?' Harry shrugged good naturedly and ran his hand through his hair,

'If she comes in time!' Looking around the shop briefly Harry turned back to Lavender,

'She said she wanted a pretty owl, but a good natured and intelligent owl. Is there such a thing?' Lavender sighed slightly before scrutinising her flock,

'I think there may be a few that may be to her liking. Now for you m'dear' Lavender said looking over at Gracie 'as a special offer, you can have the cat for 10 galleons, half price.' Sensing that this was a good deal Gracie got out her money bag that Harry had brought her, but before she could open it Harry had already paid,

'Consider it a birthday present' he said as Gracie tried to pay him back. With her new cat contently resting in his basket, Gracie and the boys explored the shop as they waited for Lily, who thankfully turned up five minutes later,

'Look Daddy, it's an Ebony and Unicorn wand, eight and a half inches, nice and springy.' Harry returned the beam and ruffled her hair proudly,

'It's lovely Lily, but if you don't hurry up and choose an Owl, Lavender here is going to have to shut up shop and you won't get one.' Looking at the few owls Lavender had brought forward Lily shook their heads at all of them,

'I want that one' Lily declared pointing at an owl that was sitting contently on the beams above them. Seeing her point, the Barn Owl swooped down and landed on Lily's outstretched arm. Her face pink, Lily tenderly stroked the owl who cooed in response.

'What cha gonna call her Lils?' James yelled over the indignant hooting of the rejected owls,

'Azura, it means sky jewel.' Lily replied. Hearing this, Albus appeared suddenly with a large python around his neck,

'Nice, hey Mum can have this python?' After paying for her owl the Potters left the shop, with Gracie pondering about what to call her new friend. She wanted to call him something special, something magical, not a name like Bob as James had so helpfully suggested or Bobette as Albus had equally helpfully suggested. She was sure she would think of something.

* * *

><p>Driving back to the Dursley's was not the awkward quiet affair it had been the week before. Gracie and Harry found themselves chatting endlessly about anything and anything, how wands work, why wizards like toads do and so on. It wasn't until Gracie saw her parents apprehensive faces a few hours later that she realised how much had now changed. She had left unsure and unsettled, and had returned more knowledgeable with a wand and a cat in tow. Getting out of the car slowly, she found herself enveloped by Yvonne as she hugged her daughter, Dudley watching happily as he waited for his turn. After a few tears on Yvonne's part, Dudley and Yvonne dragged Gracie's new trunk up the stairs, leaving Harry and Gracie to themselves of a moment.<p>

'Here, nearly forgot' Harry said gruffly handing her an envelope,

'You'll need to get yourself to Kings Cross to catch the train, but that's your ticket. We'll meet you outside platform 9 and 10 at quarter to eleven to show you how to get in alright?' Gracie nodded, putting the envelope in her pocket before leaning down to let her cat out of its basket. Standing up straight again and looking into Harry's eyes which were so similar to hers Gracie spoke,

'Thank you for all of this, I've had an amazing week, and I'm just really, yeah. Thanks' Harry smiled at Gracie and hugged her, before getting in his car and driving off tooting his horn the as he sped up the street before disappearing in mid air. Yvonne and Dudley appeared at Gracie's side as Harry left,

'Oh we didn't get to say goodbye properly!' Yvonne lamented, squinting to catch sight of the long gone car. Dudley however was staring at Gracie's cat with a look of extreme dislike,

'Shoo! Go away you stupid thing!' The cat hissed at Dudley and ran over to Gracie who picked him up protectively,

'He's not a stupid thing, he's my cat! He's Laverne!' Yvonne cocked her head and cautiously stroked the cat in Gracie's arm,

'Laverne?' Gracie nodded,

'I just thought of it, it's thought to mean green in French,' and whilst Dudley watched horrified, Yvonne took Laverne from Gracie and smiling at her daughter agreed that the cat was lovely and could certainly stay.

As Laverne settled himself into her room later that night, Gracie pinned up a sheet of paper on her noticeboard. Crossing of the first day on her countdown to Hogwarts, Gracie fell down into her bed, and unlike her parents, slept easily and blissfully, unaware of the heated conversation that was occurring next door.

* * *

><p>AN

Again, do not own any characters apart from the wonderful Miss Gracie and Yvonne,

Another chapter down! Reviews welcome and continue to keep voting on my poll as it closes next week!

Exciting chapter up ahead!

Thanks!

Fanfic


	9. The Hogwarts Express

Having packed and repacked the night before Gracie felt confident that she could sleep in extra long the morning of September the 1st. Heaven forbid she needed it. The last two weeks at the Dursley household had been less than ideal. Dudley and Yvonne had decided to feign ignorance about Gracie's 'talent' and had banned any discussion on the 'm word' (the 'm word' being of course magic). This was problematic for Gracie, who still had many questions she wanted to ask, and many things she wanted to share with her parents about what she had learned at the Potter's. She couldn't even talk to her grandparents about it, as Dudley had profusely warned her against it, threatening grounding for the first time in Gracie's eleven years.

They were therefore very surprised when Gracie announced that night that she would need a lift to Kings Cross the next morning to catch the train to Hogwarts,

'B- but, we, we haven't discussed this Gracie.' Dudley had choked as Yvonne's head collapsed into her lap

'I thought it was obvious,' Gracie answered simply, sitting in front of her father, as sitting next to him was impossible. Yvonne shook her head,

'I just don't know if it's a good idea.'

'Ma, I've sent my acceptance letter, they're expecting me to arrive at the school tomorrow!' Drawing out her wand and waving it around Gracie cried, 'I even have a wand for goodness sakes!' A flash of terror flickered across Dudley's eyes as the wand gave off sparks, causing Yvonne to reach out and snatch it off her daughter,

'We'll have none of this dangerous waving of magical wands around now,' she said as she carefully lay the wand down on the oak coffee table, glaring at Gracie over the discomfort she had obviously caused Dudley. Lapsing into silence, the Dursley's all stared at the inconspicuous wand as it lay innocently on the coffee table, thoughts churning over in their heads. Finally Dudley broke the silence,

'Alright. We'll leave at 8:30.' Jumping up Gracie attacked her father with an energetic hug before grabbing her wand and reverting back up to her room, where closed doors couldn't completely muffle the shouts that erupted from the living room. Laverne miaowed happily at her appearance and leapt into Gracie's lap as she collapsed on her bed. As she stroked the purring cat, Gracie couldn't help but think of Lily, who was no doubt right in the middle of the large family dinner she had written about the week before, celebrating her leaving for Hogwarts. Lily had written many letters to Gracie over the two weeks, obviously thrilled with the acquisition of both her owl and new friend. The last few letters in particular had been on the expansive Potter family, as Lily explained in complex family trees complete with mini biographies the different members of the Weasley clan. From what Gracie could decipher (as Lily had tiny cramped handwriting) she had two cousins who were also starting Hogwarts that year called Hugo and Lucy, and six cousins already at Hogwarts with one having already graduated the year before and was now working in the International relations department for the Ministry of Magic. At first the concept of the Ministry of Magic confused Gracie, _what on earth does a Ministry of Magic do? _Lily, obviously a big fan of diagrams, was only too happy to send a complex flow chart in her next letter which showed the Ministry and all its different departments and their roles. Hours spent deciphering Lily's handwriting taught Gracie a lot about how the Wizarding world functioned, as she poured over the different departments and their roles. Uncle Harry's department, the Auror department, was by far the biggest, because as Lily had written after the defeat of the Dark Lord the wizarding world came to value Auror's and their role in society leading to their expansion. As well as the Auror department, and the International relations department, the ministry encompassed departments such as the Department for Equality of Magical creatures and Wizards, the Department of Magical Items Regulations (which specialised in Cauldron Bottoms Gracie was informed) and the Department of Mysteries, all of which were of great interest to Gracie. Noticing that the shouting had subdued, Gracie crept out onto the landing of the stairs to see if her parents were alright. Leaning forward, she spotted Yvonne stroking the funny lump Dudley had always had on the back of his head as she quietly murmured to him. Feeling pleased that they were no longer bickering; Gracie scooted back into her bedroom and after flinging herself onto her bed fell asleep quickly, urging the sun to hurry up and rise.

* * *

><p>The next morning was rather hectic. Gracie had been granted her sleep- in, which lasted a whole five minutes as Dudley accidently dropped Gracie's trunk down the stairs, the crashing and clunking and worry about her belongings forcing her to wake and stay awake. Thankfully it wasn't long before the Dursley's set off for London, arriving at Kings Cross at quarter to eleven as suggested by Harry in his note that accompanied Lily's owl the week before, which also stated that they should wait and he would show them onto the platform. Following the instructions, the Dursley's congregated outside of platform 9 and 10 at quarter to, and whilst Dudley and Gracie looked around curiously for the scarlet steam engine Lily had described, Yvonne tapped her foot impatiently, an annoyed scowl uncharacteristically spreading across her face,<p>

'For goodness sakes Gracie! No use in standing here looking like wide eyed tree frogs when we could be on the platform!' Before Gracie could truthfully reply that she had no idea how to get onto the platform, Yvonne ripped her hand away from the pocket of her jeans and dragged her at a run towards the middle of platform nine and ten, a confused Dudley backing them up with Gracie's trunk. Gracie barely had time to process that they were running straight into a brick wall when the scarlet engine Lily had so carefully depicted in her letters appeared before her. As Gracie surveyed the long narrowness of the trains funnel to the mass of smoke trailing out over the crowd of people who hovered near the doors, she couldn't help but wonder how on earth her mother knew how to get there.

'Oh' Yvonne said dismissively when Gracie piped her question, 'You told me, before, don't you remember? Honestly Gracie surely it doesn't matter.' Struck by the almost nostalgic facial expression of Yvonne, Gracie decided not to press the question. She certainly didn't want an argument in front of the entire student population of the school plus their parents. At this, the family gingerly made their way through the crowd, Dudley waddling in front with Gracie's trunk, easily parting the otherwise compact group of sobbing mothers and embarrassed children. Chucking her trunk into the door of the train, Dudley himself was unable to enter on account of his size, which left Yvonne and Gracie to push the heavy trunk up onto the rack of an empty compartment, with Dudley yelling encouragement through the window. Satisfied that the trunk was secure, the mother and daughter returned to the platform for a final farewell.

'I love you lots Kiddo' Dudley said as he hugged his daughter, 'You just remember that eh?' Gracie nodded, and turning towards Yvonne, launched herself at her.

'Good god Gracie, you're going to kill me doing that one day.' Yvonne laughed as she hugged Gracie. Leaning down slightly she whispered,

'Now, you- you'll be ok. You'll love Hogwarts, but, if you find out anything that, well, you don't like. I just want you to remember that I love you lots, alright?' Satisfied, Yvonne gave her daughter one last kiss, and Dudley gave her hair one last affectionate ruffle and they disappeared, leaving Gracie standing alone on the middle of the platform, unnoticed by the people milling around her.

* * *

><p>After scrambling back into her compartment, Gracie sat down and began to gaze out the window. She was half hoping to spot Lily, but doubted that through the thick smoke she would be able to. Still, it kept her busy, so she continued to look until the door of her compartment slid open revealing a slight girl of about Gracie's age,<p>

'Hi, d'you mind if I join you?' Gracie shook her head, smiling at the girl who sat down opposite her. After a moment of silence Gracie said,

'Well, my name's Gracie Dursley, and I'm a first year.' The girl nodded, her hazel eyes twinkling with excitement,

'I'm a first year to!' Stretching out her hand, she said,

'Helena Davies' Gracie smiled at Helena and shook her hand,

'Cool! Do you know any other new first years?' Before Helena could reply the train started to hum and whirl. Parents started to panic as they tearfully shoved their children onto the train before leaning back and waving at their children's retreating back sides. Helena squealed as she pushed her long dark blonde hair out of her face, leaning out the window to wave madly,

'Who are you waving at?' Gracie yelled over the noise of the departing train, watching the people slowly move out of view. Shrugging Helena replied,

'Dunno but its fun! Goodbye, goodbye! Don't worry, I will return!' Laughing at the dramatic sweeping motion of Helena's wave, Gracie settled back in her seat, glad that she was not the only one who didn't really have any one to wave to. With a blink, the crowded platform disappeared, replaced instead with a serene countryside which made it clear to Gracie that they certainly weren't in London any more.

'Did you know you were a witch?' Gracie asked a still erect and waving Helena,

'Nuh did you?'

'Nope, had no idea. I dunno, I was surprised but not if you know what I mean?' Still standing Helena looked thoughtfully out the window, and after a while answered,

'Yeah I think I do know. It was like there was something there, and you kinda knew about it, but didn't think about it. So when they came and told me, it just all made sense.' Tired of standing Helena resumed her seat, 'Well, I think we shall get on just swimmingly anyway Gracie. Who'd you have visiting you?'

'McGonagall,'

'Really? That's cool, I just had this professor called Professor Luverage, he's supposed to be the Charm's teacher for this term, apparently the other one is sick, Flit-tick I think the other one's name is? I dunno, but he was nice.'

'Well McGonagall is the Head Mistress,' Helena's eyes widened at this,

'No way! You had the _headmistress_ come and see you?'

'Certainly did.'

'Well how about that then! What was she-' But before Helena could finish the compartment door slid open with a flourish, emitting two boys with familiar black messy hair,

'Lumpy made it Albus!' James whopped as he hugged Gracie,

'Lumpy? Who came up with that?' She asked as Helena giggled behind her,

'I did' Albus said proudly. Gracie shook her head,

'Why?'

'I dunno, to keep your ego in check I 'spose. It could be worse' he said eyeing Gracie's incredulous facial expression, 'James was dead set on nicknaming you Stumblebum 'cause he thought,'

'Yeah, I don't really think I want to know Al,' Gracie told Al seriously as James and Helena fell about laughing,

'That's great,' Helena cried, as she continued to shake with laughter, 'Lumpy Stumblebum, what a name-'

'Yes alright, alright, thank you very much for that James and Albus, I'll be sure to repay the favour,'

'Please do' Albus said sincerely, as James shook his head certain that Gracie would never be able to create a nickname quite like Stumblebum. 'And we're not here just to showcase your new nickname,'

'No?'

'No, you see, there's a _very_ excited-'

'And when Al says very' James cut in, his face abnormally serious, 'he means very. Far out!'

'Yeah, _very _excited first year wanting to see her "new favourite cousin", which shows how much she cares about the rest of them. So come on, we're up the train a bit'

'She won't be to long' James added hastily to Helena, who was looking uncertainly at Gracie,

'Oh, um ok. I'll just wait here until you get back' Helena smiled reassuringly, but Gracie noticed the droop in her shoulders and how increasingly interested she became with the fray of her shirt. Unsure of what to say, Gracie left with the Potter boys, guiltily looking backwards over her shoulder as they progressed down the train, before arriving at what had to be Lily's compartment.

'You ready?' Albus asked as he drew open the door. Gracie nodded and peering into the compartment, she saw a familiar mop of bright red hair attached to an overjoyed head,

'Lily!' A smile lit the red heads face and Gracie happily scrambled into the compartment, all thoughts of Helena waiting forgotten as she caught up with her friend.

* * *

><p>'So you're Hugo,' Gracie said slowly pointing at the cheerful red headed boy seated opposite her, who nodded vigoursly at this,<p>

'Right'

'And you have a sister called Rose whose a third year Ravenclaw?'

'Right'

'And you're Lucy' Gracie said as she turned towards the petite red headed girl sitting alongside Hugo,

'Yes I am' she said in a quiet, humble voice, so faint Gracie had to strain to hear,

'And you have a sister whose a fifth year Ravenclaw? Molly?'

'Yes, I do.' Lucy said slowly, twisting her hair around her finger, 'We're very, well, _different_, Molly and I. She doesn't mind talking to others as much, but I' she broke off at this, as if she was afraid she had said too much. Granted, it was the most Gracie had heard her say thus far, the first hour and a half of the trip spent with the painfully shy Lucy in dead silence. Giving Molly a warm smile which she gladly reciprocated, Gracie then turned to Lily,

'And you're Lily'

'Glad to know that after spending a week together you know my name' Lily laughed, nodding as Gracie reddened slightly,

'Yes, well, yes. Well' Gracie fumbled as Hugo and Lucy started to giggle, 'Yes, well. Yes I know who you are.' Lily nodded again, her brown eyes twinkling,

'I'm glad to hear it.'

'And you have two brothers, Albus and James who are third and fourth year Gryffindor.'

'Absolutely correct,' Lily said as she glanced out the window at the thickening woods as the train progressed closer to Hogwarts, 'I'd like to be in Gryffindor.'

'I'm sure you will be Lils,' Hugo reassured as Lucy nodded solemnly next to him, 'I mean, every other Potter has been a Gryffindor, it's our house.'

'You're too much of a pansy to be in Gryffindor Hugh, I think you're perfect Hufflepuff material' Lily teased as Hugo's face fell into a scowl,

'A pansy? _A pansy?_' He exclaimed standing up and towering over a triumphant Lily, 'I ain't no stupid Pansy, if anything you're the pansy here!' Winking at Gracie Lily leaned in to whisper,

'And there's the famous Weasley temper'

'You're not funny Lily, not at all' Hugo spat as he sat back down, all traces of the happy go lucky personality gone leaving Hugo in a sour mood right up to when the train reached the station, his excitement making him forget the events of the trip. Leaving the compartment and stepping onto the Hogwarts platform for the first time, Gracie couldn't help but jump up and down in excitement, causing some of the older students to roll their eyes and mutter "Bloody first years" to each other,

'We're here Lily! We're really here!' She exclaimed, pulling on Lily's hand animatedly, causing her to frown and pull her hand away,

'Ouch Gracie, that's my wand hand!' But Gracie only half heard her, as a dark looming figure came towards the group of first years calling,

'Firs' years, firs' years, Firs' years over 'ere; C'mon, fir's years over 'ere, step lively' It was now Lily who was pulling Gracie's hand excitedly as they ran through their terrified peers to walk next to the giant figure. Gracie was more curious than anything, reasoning that the school wouldn't send him to collect the first years if he was dangerous or harboured dangerous tendencies. As soon as he looked down at the red headed pair however, Gracie saw his strange beetle like eyes and immediately decided that he was of a decent sort, so full of kindness and warmth were his eyes.

'Hagrid!' Lily squeaked, 'I'm here!' Hagrid chuckled at the girl, causing some of the students behind him to shriek and hide behind their new found friends,

'I was thinkin' it was about time you lot started. It seems like just the other day it was your Dad starting, little thing he was.' Suddenly noticing Gracie's presence he said, 'And who is this you've got here with you? A new-' Hagrid stopped suddenly, staring incredulously at Gracie, causing a few students behind to walk straight into the back of him.

'Well I never' He whispered, staring down at Gracie in wonder, as she returned the gaze in equal wonder, 'It's Lily Evans.' He shook his head, 'No, you- you, you can't be.' Hagrid walked forward a few steps, 'Are you?' He whispered, to which Gracie shook her head,

'No, I'm Gracie Dursley, but I'm pleased to meet you' she offered, extending a hand.

'Gracie, sorry, you look rather a lot like someone I used to know,' Hagrid said carefully shaking her hand, so big were his against hers. Looking around at all the staring faces, Hagrid coughed and motioned towards the path 'Right, nearly there, c'mon, gotta get to the boats quick smart.'

* * *

><p>'Alright, remain here quietly until I return to fetch you, thank you' Professor Luverage concluded, his eyes scanning the room, many unable to return his strong gaze. As he left the room, nervous chatter broke out between the students. Lily was twiddling her thumbs and was in no mood to talk, which left Gracie to simply stop and think. So far, Gracie liked the castle so far, and thought it was simply wonderful. The entrance Hall alone was huge, with the highest stone ceiling Gracie had ever seen, and wonderful detailed finishes on the cornices and skirting boards, if you could call them that as they were too wonderful to be compared to anything in the muggle world. Even the little room they were in now, though not nearly as grand as the entrance hall (which was to be expected) was nice enough, with medieval looking torches illuminating the room, flickering prettily on the light stone walls. As much as Gracie did appreciate the architecture of the Castle she decided that it would most probably be frightfully cold, making her wonder vaguely if the castle had electronic heaters, which in turn reminded her that she had her phone in her robe pocket. Pulling it out, she was dismayed to find her new present wouldn't even turn on. <em>It must be flat<em>, Gracie reasoned as she re-pocketed the phone, worried what her Mother would say if she received an owl on the second day of school asking for a new phone. She didn't have much more time to ponder this however when Professor Luverage reappeared, simply telling them,

'We're ready for you now. Two straight lines please. Ready? Let's go!' Widening her eyes in excitement, and hand in hand with Lily, Gracie walked towards the Great Hall, great anticipation building within her.

* * *

><p>AN I don't own anything except for the characters you don't recognise- Those one's are mine.

Well it's been a long wait, but this has been an extremely difficult chapter for me to write as I've struggled to successfully introduce all the characters as I saw fit. So instead the meeting of the Weasley family will be spread out through a few chapters, which would be more truthful as you don't meet every single person in your school on your first day.

I hope that the next chapters can be written quicker and more smoothly, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee much,

Thank you to my lovely reviewers! Your feedback is sensational and extremely helpful


	10. The Sorting

_**The Sorting**_

Four dark oak tables were the most striking thing about the Great Hall, and from a brief glance, Gracie guessed that the sturdy tables were probably just as old as the grand setting they found themselves in. Living up to its status as the 'great' hall, Gracie, again, was struck by the beautiful gothic architecture of the place, and how a vast stone clad room could be surprisingly warm. Perhaps it was the students she reasoned, as she curiously met the glances and eyes of a few, their youthful exuberance and joy to be back with their friends creating the pleasant atmosphere Gracie found herself in. She then allowed herself to look away from the hoards of students craning to get a look at the schools newest additions, and looked up instead to see exactly how tall the Great Hall actually was,

'It's enchanted' Lily said when she heard Gracie gasp, 'See, it looks exactly like the sky outside, I remember my Mum telling me all about it one time.' Leaning in she whispered, 'Sometimes, if you're really lucky, _you can even see a shooting star or comet!' _Looking even more feverishly up into rafters at the spectacular arrangement of the stars and planets, Gracie walked right into the back of the person in front of her, realising that they had arrived at the front of the Great Hall. Sitting in front of them were who Gracie could only assume to be the teachers, so was their age and air of demanded respect they gave.

Before Gracie could properly look at any of the teachers however, Professor Luverage appeared with a hat commandeering her attention. The hat looked exactly like how Gracie thought Wizard hats would look, like a bent over cone, patched and frayed, its dirt and dust giving it an elemental quality. Placing the hat on a stool that materialised in front of them, the professor's all leaned in expectantly and so the first years similarly focused on the hat, all feeling a little foolish to be looking so intently at an old hat. Gracie blinked. The hat _had moved!_ It had wriggled, and seemingly sighed. And then it did the unexpected. _It started to sing!_

As Gracie listening enraptured to the sorting hat's song, she felt the gaze of another bear down on her. Turning her head slightly, she caught the hurt gaze of Helena who at seeing Gracie's eyes, quickly looked away. The moment Helena's head fell; Gracie instantly experienced a panicked yet remorseful feeling which quickly occupied her mindset. She found herself unable to look at anyone, especially Helena, and had to let go of Lily's hand because hers became damp with sweat.

'Are you alright?' Lily whispered as the hat bowed to the thunderous applause that met the end of its song, 'It's alright to be nervous you know.' Gracie shook her head and whispered back,

'I feel really, really horrible. Kinda, well, _guilty. _Andit's because-'

'Tell me later' Lily urged flicking her head towards the stool where the hat sat, 'It's about to start.' But the feeling didn't dissipate, if anything Gracie's guilt and nervousness grew and grew as each passing peer was sorted, with the culmination being when Helena was sorted into Gryffindor and the triumphant look she wore as she walked proudly off to the cheering table of red and yellow.

'Dursley, Gracie' Professor Luverage called, peering at the crowd of first years as Gracie stumbled forwards towards the stool. Taking a deep breath as the hat slid over her long red hair, she thought of Lily and the Potters, and how they had told her it was not a harrowing experience and to just relax.

'They are not wrong' a voice whispered in her ear causing Gracie to jump, 'Do not panic. I am merely sifting through your mind in order to sort you into the most appropriate house.' Feeling highly uncomfortable at the thought of a hat invading her mind, Gracie sat as still as possible, trying to think of something other than the hat delving into the nooks and crannies of her mind. As the Hat continued to search, Gracie wondered what it was looking for exactly, to which the Hat answered,

'Many things' There was a brief pause as Gracie vividly remembered picking up her Hogwarts letter, which the Hat watched with interest before continuing,

'If you're a Ravenclaw intelligence and a want to pursue knowledge and share knowledge would be strong, which it is in you to a degree. If you're a Hufflepuff faithfulness, caring and a willingness to work hard would be prominent, which you do posses, again, to a degree.' The hat's voice dropped lower, 'And if you're a Slytherin, self preservation and ambition are the most outward attributes displayed. But a true Slytherin, also possesses courage,'

_I thought Gryffindor where known for bravery and courage,_ Gracie thought as the hat tutted,

'Yes Gryffinor's certainly are renowned for their bravery and courage, that of which is generally outlandish and noticeable, reckless even at times. Slytherin courage is somewhat different. Quieter certainly, an ability to face the past, own up to a mistake.' He sighed, 'Only displayed by the best of them unfortunately'

Listening to Gracie's thoughts of Slytherin's, the Hat chuckled before answering,

'Yes, Slytherin does to a degree have a somewhat questionable reputation, but they are as finer house as any. And you misunderstood me, I never said Gryffindor courage was bad, merely it's different to Slytherin's, and just as necessary.' A pause followed, 'A Gryffindor can be a mix of things, but generally they're brave, selfless and incredibly loyal and just. Qualities you do posses.'

_Well can I be a Gryffindor then? _Gracie wondered. A pause followed this thought, before the Hat carefully replied,

'A Gryffindor? Are you sure, I think you're more suited to Slytherin. Oh there's no doubt that you would excel in either houses, but your ancestors have all thrived in Slytherin in years past. No? If you're sure, better be GRYFFINDOR.' With relief, Gracie handed the hat back to Professor Luverage and ran happily over to the Gryffindor table, where she could hear the Potter boys yelling,

'WE KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YOU LUMPY!' When Gracie reached the table though, her smile faltered as she saw Helena talking intently to three other girls who upon spotting Gracie exchanged uncertain looks. Deciding there was nothing else for it; Gracie sat down next to a girl with white blond hair and blue crystal eyes, and with a smile and a nod turned around to watch the rest of the sorting. She found it was progressing much quicker now that she had been placed, with Lily's turn coming around quicker than she expected.

'Well one thing's certain, she won't be a Gryffindor' a brown haired girl with sparkling hazel eyes said, playing absentmindedly with the goblet in front of her. The strawberry blonde haired girl with the most unusual gray eyes Gracie had ever seen, sitting across from the brunette leaned forward at this,

'Are you kidding? That's Lily Potter, Harry Potter's daughter. _Of course_ she'll be in Gryffindor, and if not, well, all hell will break loose.' The brunette shook her head,

'But look, there's five of us here. Me, you, Marie, Helena and, sorry what's your name?' She asked addressing Gracie,

'Oh, Gracie Dursley'

'Right, so me, you, Marie, Helena and Gracie, that's five. And weren't you telling me earlier that Hogwarts only have dorms of five?'

'Surely they could include an extra bed if they needed to,' Gracie piped, hoping that by asking the hat to be in Gryffindor she hadn't compromised Lily's place in the house. The strawberry blonde girl shrugged,

'I don't know, maybe.' With a scrutinising gaze she offered a hand, 'Sophie Belby' Gracie grinned and happily shook Sophie's hand as the brunette also offered her hand,

'Hey Gracie, my name's Elizabeth, but Beth or Lizzy or Libby or Eliza or Bette or Ellie is fine by me, whatever floats your boat.'

'You could have a different nick name for every day of the week with a name like Elizabeth' Gracie laughed as she accepted a rather enthusiastic hand shake from Elizabeth.

'And Marie Carmichael is my name' the tiny white blond haired girl said in a strangely deep voice as she shook Gracie's hand.

'Aw, it's great to meet you all.' Gracie thanked sincerely, her eyes flickering briefly over to Helena who was staring intently at her napkin, as the Sorting Hat reached its decision,

'HUFFLEPUFF' it roared, as the Hufflepuff table erupted into cheers and enthusiastic applause whilst the rest of the school feebly clapped, to surprised to commit to the thunderous applause they usually gave at the announcement of a sorting. On Professor Luverage's urging, Lily feebly got off the stool, and red face scurried over to the Hufflepuff table, feelings of confusion and ostracism painfully etched across her oval face.

* * *

><p>The sorting dragged on after that, Lily's confused and hurt facial expression commandeering most of Gracie's attention, causing her to regularly glance in her direction to see if there was any improvement. Finally only two students remained to be sorted, both shaking visibly with nerves,<p>

'Weasley, Hugo' Professor Luverage called, as a red faced Hugo approached the stool. Almost instantly, Hugo was pronounced a 'GRYFFINDOR' and just as quickly was Lucy Weasley was pronounced a 'HUFFLEPUFF' much to Lily's obvious delight, as she laughed and clapped with the others before hugging the delighted Lucy, glad to have a familiar face to talk to.

With the sorting finished, Professor Luverage rolled up the scroll with the flick of his wand, and picking up the Sorting hat and stool he left the hall momentarily, allowing Headmistress McGonagall to stand up and briefly address the students.

'Welcome to Hogwarts, to those who are returning, and for those who are commencing. I hope you have all had an enjoyable break and are prepared for the year ahead. Before I get too carried away however, I believe we have a feast to enjoy, so let us begin!' At her words, plates of food appeared suddenly on the table in front of them. Gasping in delight, Gracie eagerly reached forward to grab a corn cob and various other pieces of food, before settling down and listening interestedly at the conversation her new dorm mates were making.

'Well I'm a pureblood' Sophie drawled as she twirled her strawberry blonde hair around and around her finger, 'Dad has his own business and Mum does the books. They own stud where they raise owls and phoenixes and Ravens and what not. If you bought an owl you probably bought one of ours, they're that popular'

'That's cool' Elizabeth answered enthusiastically, nearly knocking over her goblet as she waved her hands about 'My parents aren't magical at all. But my Aunty is, and she was so pleased, cos none of her kids are magical. Don't know why I am,' She shrugged, 'Just lucky I spose.'

'What did your parents do Ellie?' Marie asked, her deep gravelly voice catching the attention of a few extremely surprised fourth years, their food dropping from their forks into their goblets as they stared gobsmacked at the tiny first year. Laughing at the fourth years as they dug into the goblets, intent of rescuing their food, Elizabeth turned back towards Marie,

'Well, my Dad works in an accountancy firm, and my Mum was a teacher in another life, but in this life she's a stay at home Mum with my two younger siblings.' Marie nodded,

'That's kind of what my Dad does; he works for Gringotts with my Mum. They're quite good friends with Bill Weasley actually, whose the Dad of Gryffinor's Quidditch captain Dominique Weasley.' Pointing down the table at a pixie faced brunette girl, who was leaning over Albus and laughing at James, she said,

'There's Dom! Hey Dom! Dom! I'm in Gryffindor! I got in!' Upon seeing Marie, Dominique seemingly glided over to the group of first years and enveloped Marie in a big hug, causing Gracie frantically slide down the bench to avoid getting clouted in the head by Dom's musclier arms,

'Aw well done Marie! I knew you'd be alright. And are these your roommates?' She asked, looking calmly around at the awestruck group. 'Well, my name's Dom, and it's great to meet you all. If anyone of you is interested in Quidditch I'm going to be holding a special session to train interested/ potential first year players for the Gryffindor team. So get back to me on that, and hopefully' Dominique stopped, and turned towards Gracie suddenly, lifting an eyebrow as she asked

'God have I met you before? You seem really familiar' Gracie gave a brief smile before answering,

'No, but I'm related to Harry Potter, so maybe that has something to do with it?' Dom shook her head, a smile creeping across her face,

'Ha! I know now! You are a dead ringer for Lily Evans, Uncle Harry's Mum! Well I'm Dom anyway'

'Gracie, Gracie Dursley'

'Well great to meet you Gracie, maybe we'll see you on the Quidditch pitch?' Gracie shrugged,

'Maybe'

'We'll see. Now, Marie, well done,' Dom said as she turned back towards the petit blonde, 'Remember you can mosey on up to my dorm at any time, alright?' Now turning towards the rest of the girls and pointing at the half eaten food on their plates she added 'And enjoy the feast, we don't get another good one for two months!' With a wink, she glided away, and after a seconds pause the first years exploded into excited whispers,

'Oh my god, you know the Weasley's!' Sophie whispered, her hair falling comically across her face, 'That's so cool!'

'I can't believe a seventh year was talking to us! I thought they completely ignore our existence usually!' Elizabeth was squealing as she flapped her hands,

'She was really cool, I liked her' Gracie offered, earning a smile from Marie,

'I know hey? She's like Bill, cool and calm. But get that girl angry and you're in trouble' Feeling happier, Gracie joined in the girls conversation that continued on relatively smoothly (apart from a few awkward glances between Gracie and Helena) up until Professor McGonagall once again stood up to address the students,

'Again, welcome back to Hogwarts. We have a few start of term notices, so please listen intently so they need not be repeated again during the year. Firstly, Mr Flitch would like to remind you all that magic in the corridors is forbidden, and any product from Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes is expressly banned. The astronomy towers are out of bounds without the presence of a teacher, as is the forbidden forest. Quidditch trials will begin in the coming weeks; anyone interested should contact Madame Hooch. And finally, owing to Professor Flitwick's illness, Professor Luverage will be filling in the position of Deputy Headmaster and Charms Professor this year. Please make him feel welcome.' Allowing a smattering of applause greet her latest remark, Professor McGonagall continued,

'With that, it is time to retire to your houses. First years, follow your prefects and they will lead you to your dormitories. That is all, now shoo!'Loud chatter began bounce around the hall at the conclusion of McGonagall's address, as the older students hastily pushed out their benches and meandered over to the Entrance hall to retire to their respective houses.

Feeling somewhat small, Gracie quickly looked around for the Prefect McGonagall had mentioned, but with all the yelling she couldn't distinguish any words being uttered by anyone. Feeling desperate as the Great hall quickly emptied, Gracie ran blindly into the Entrance Hall hoping to catch sight of the Gryffindor prefect and the Gryffindor first years. But she only caught sight of the last dregs of students before they disappeared up the staircase that dominated the hall, leaving her standing alone, a few muffled thumps of students racing up the stairs preventing total silence from occurring.

For a moment she stood absolutely still, petrified at the idea of being in a huge castle and having no idea what it held or where she was to go, but this feeling quickly passed and was replaced by anger. How could the girls not notice she wasn't with them? And how could they leave her alone in the hall? And how did she not notice when they slipped away?

Deciding there was nothing else for it, Gracie crept up the stair case, and found at the landing a corridor that ran horizontal to the hall. Deciding that right was right, Gracie turned and walked apprehensively down the right corridor, which opened up onto a large room with filled staircases which reached right up to the high ceiling above. After walking up three flights of stairs, she decided that they were very solid and safe, and therefore decided that she would be ok to cross a section of stairs that went across the middle of the room

Just as she stepped onto the staircase however, it moved, causing Gracie to scream and clutch the handrail desperately, so scared was she of falling or slipping off the stairs. As if the staircase sensed her distress, it quickly attached itself to a landing, allowing Gracie to scamper onto the landing and sink to her knees, crying for the shock and fear the staircase had given her.

'What's wrong m'dear? Shouldn't you be in your dormitory by now?' a kind and motherly voice asked, reminding Gracie immediately of Yvonne. Looking up, she saw a portrait of a Nun looking worriedly down at her and was surprised to see her moving. Whilst the Potter's had portraits similar to this Nun's, they generally slept or talked amongst themselves and certainly had never addressed Gracie during her weeklong stay,

'I should, but I couldn't find my prefect that was supposed to show me to the Gryffindor common room, and your staircases move!' The Nun chuckled at this last remark and throwing her hands up said,

'Of course the staircases move! It's one of the unique things about Hogwarts, we're the only school in the world that have them on as larger scale as we do. But you're lost now, are you?' Looking sympathetically at the nodding Gracie she sighed, 'Well that's not right, is it? Leaving a first year behind on her first night. But if you wait here, I'll fetch someone to help you, alright? But you have to wait' The Nun then did something Gracie certainly had never seen before. She stood up and left her portrait, appearing suddenly in the landscape painting next to her that featured three witches flying on broomstick. Borrowing one of their broomsticks, the Nun then zoomed off and returned fifteen or so minutes later with the most interesting looking person Gracie had ever seen.

* * *

><p>AN I own nothing except for the Gracie and her mother, and Gracie's dorm mates

Sorry for the slow update, in holiday mode still! Thank you to everyone who voted on the poll! The results were:

Gryfinndor: 10 votes

Ravenclaw: 6 votes

Hufflepuff: 5 votes

Slytherin: 6 votes

The result from the poll and the storyline was what influenced Gracie's sorting as well as Lily's sorting

Feel free to review and express your views on the sorting of my characters,

Fanfic1900 :)


	11. The First Transfiguration Class

"You know, I don't think I've ever met a ghost before," Gracie said brightly to the pale figure that glided next to her as they walked up yet another flight of stairs.

"Well I'm honoured to think that I am the first to meet you young Gracie," Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the ghost of Gryffindor replied, secretly satisfied to meet a first year who did not have prior knowledge of his unfortunate nick name.

"You know, I don't think I've even ever _seen _a ghost before" Gracie continued, looking at Sir Nicholas' transparent ruff with interest. "Not at my place anyway"

"Well, we ghosts don't tend to haunt places of modern times- unless they are particularly significant-"

"Our place isn't modern!" Gracie cried, wrinkling her nose comically as the ghost drifted towards a portrait of a rather old overstuffed looking lady, "It was built in the 70's or something, before my dad even existed!"

"Forgive me Gracie, but to me, that is classified as relatively new. Ah, now here we are." With a nod and a wink, the ghost disappeared behind the portrait, causing the old lady who Gracie noted was completely dressed in varying shades of pink, to scream and shudder. After suppressing a round of giggles at the huffing and puffing old Lady, Gracie looked around the narrow corridor interestedly as she waited for the ghost, guessing that after all the stairs they had climbed that they must be up in one of the castle's towers.

Before Gracie could venture over to the windows down the other end of the hall to confirm her thoughts of the House's location however, Sir Nicholas reappeared from behind the portrait- causing another round of huffs and indignant mutterings from the shivering Pink Lady. He had brought company in the form of a rather bemused looking seventh year. Upon seeing Gracie, he smiled gently,

'Not a good start hey?' He asked as he pulled the door wide open for Gracie to scamper into, 'Just as well good ol' Nearly Headless Nick was here to help- otherwise you could've spent the whole night wandering-'

'I _prefer_' Sir Nicholas interrupted, 'Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington!" Hiding a smile, the 7th year beckoned for Gracie to enter. With a wave and a word of thanks, Gracie happily scurried through the portrait hole, excited to finally enter the common room she had heard so much about.

The common room was much like how Albus and James had described to her during the summer break. Albus had told her that there were tapestries and drapes around the place, and James had spent a good half hour going on about the chairs and how they were nearly more comfortable than the generous four poster beds everyone in the tower slept in. 'You'll love it Lumpy,' Albus had said seriously, 'And you to Lils, god you'll feel right at home!' Lily had nodded so eagerly her hat and fallen of her jerking head, the memory of which hit Gracie rather hard as she wondered how her friend was doing on her first night in Hufflepuff house.

'Oh yeah, your dormitory?' The seventh year pointed to a set of stairs going off to the right, 'Just climb up there until you find a room with 1st Years inscribed on the door. Your stuff should be there already, so you just have to find your room. Good luck!' With a wave the boy disappeared, leaving Gracie (and quite rightly she thought) to enter the girls dormities by herself.

Even so, she considered as she crept past various doors where muffled screams and laughter could occasionally be heard, she could have done with some company. She wondered if the girls had noticed her absence, and if they had cared. Gracie was seriously considering this concept when she ran straight into Marie, colliding on the cold stone steps,

"Oh my gosh, there you are! Come on, it's been hectic trying to figure out where the heck you've been!" Came Marie's low gravelly voice, surprising Gracie yet again, "Are you alright? Did you get lost or something?" Gracie nodded, following the surprisingly quick Marie up past a blur of doors and stairs,

"Yeah you guys just left me! I was all alone in the Great Hall and I had no idea what was happening!" Gracie burst out as Marie paused at a big mahogany door inscribed with the words "First Years" just as the 7th year boy had said. Marie paused at this, and turned to lean on the big door, her arms crossed defensively,

"Well don't be cross, we didn't mean to leave you there. We had enough problems getting ourselves up to the dormitory, let alone worrying about someone else." Without another word the girls entered the dorm, greeted by Elizabeth's excited screech,

"You found her! God Grace, that was a little scary I have to admit." Waving enthusiastically to a bed in the far corner of the room, next to a large window she added, "Oh and you got the worst bed, cos you're last to pick. It'll probably be freezing because you're right next to that big drafty window and the light from the moon and stuff will keep you awake most nights. But at least you have something nice to look at every once and awhile." Gracie nodded thoughtfully, and hoped that it was a part of Elizabeth's nature to be slightly dramatic and not brutally honest. Leaping onto her new 4 poster bed however she felt a cold draft almost instantly, jumping straight off the bed as she did.

"That's why the first years get this room" came Sophie's drawling voice as she looked up briefly from her Twitch magazine, "To toughen us up or something like that. I'm sure you'll be alright though."

"Where's Helena?" Gracie asked, settling again back down onto her chilled bed cover. Marie gestured to a door next to the door they had just entered, "the Bathroom." She replied simply "We have 3 showers and 3 vanity mirrors to share. But you never know" she added quickly as she caught Sophie's face, obviously horrified at the thought of sharing a vanity, "They might multiply so there are five vanities and stuff for each of us."

"So what did happen Grace? How did you manage to find the common room by yourself?" Elizabeth asked, lying on her bed with her head hanging off the end so she could watch Gracie upside down. Gracie then began to recount her story about meeting Sir Nicholas, or Nearly Headless Nick as the boy had called him, and some of the tricks he had passed on to her about the castle,

"And he reckoned that there was a tapestry somewhere near the trophy room that has a secret passage you can go through that comes out at another floor!"

"We'll have to go exploring for these passages!" Sophie cried, her Twitch magazine having long been thrown aside.

"Well, I reckon we need to figure out how to get to the Great Hall and classes and stuff before we go looking for _secret_ passages to go get lost in" Marie said seriously, as Elizabeth dramatically rolled her eyes,

"Well you're no fun! We can figure out all of that later- I want to find the secret passages!"

"Guys, can you shut up?" Came an unexpected voice, "I can't sleep with you lot gas- bagging, all night! You have the whole 7 years to figure that stuff out, _I _only have 8 more hours to sleep." Gracie leant out of her bed to see Helena looking exasperated at them, her eyes heavy and tired. The conversation ended there, but Gracie hardly slept, the thought of doing actual magic to tantalizing to even think of sleeping.

* * *

><p>"Do I look alright?" Gracie asked Elizabeth the next morning as she excitedly pulled her hair back into a tight pony tail. "My hair and uniform, does it, you know. Look alright?" Elizabeth turned around to properly scrutinize Gracie's overlong robes and lopsided hair and replied that she looked fantastic.<p>

"What about me?" Elizabeth asked, turning around on the spot to showcase the full glory of her similarly oversized robes and slicked hair.

"Great" Gracie answered as the two left the bath room. Sophie had been hogging the bathroom for the better part of the morning, and Marie had proven to not be much better when it came to time in front of the mirror. That left Helena, Elizabeth and Gracie feeling slightly panicked, not sure if they were even going to get to their first class on time, let alone breakfast in the Great Hall. But Sophie and Marie had finally emerged, allowing Gracie and Elizabeth to finish getting ready, whilst Helena waited for them to finish.

"The bathroom's just not big enough for three people at a time" Elizabeth had said apologetically, whilst Gracie avoided Helena's eyes, as they shut themselves in the bathroom. She still felt terrible for 'ditching her' on the train, but hadn't quite formulated the right words for an apology. Gracie tried to tell herself it didn't matter though, as the five girls finally began to make their way down to breakfast, 15 mins earlier than they needed to be, and that there was more important things to be worrying about.

Like whether they served poached eggs, or scrambled at the breakfast table.

* * *

><p>During breakfast, Professor Luverage distributed the Gryffindor timetables,<p>

"Here you are ladies," He said as parchments zoomed into each of the girl's hands, "enjoy your first day, see you in the afternoon." He left as they examined each other's timetables in interest.

"They're all exactly the same." Elizabeth cried, "What if I get sick of you lot? I might have to cause a mutiny!"

* * *

><p>"Now it is a simple flick of the wrist, but a <em>fundamental <em>one at that. And as you flick your wrist you say the enchantment, _transibit effercio. _And you should, in theory, have turned your match into a needle." Professor Walker, the young and enthusiastic transfiguration teacher informed the class of attentive first years, as they happily and excitedly picked up their wands.

Gracie however was not impressed.

"Are you joking?" She whispered angrily to Elizabeth, who was sitting next to her, "What a _pathetic _idea for a first class!"

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth stage whispered back, watching Professor Walker inspect some of the Hufflepuff boys attempt the spell, "What's wrong with it?"

"It's too easy!" Gracie informed her, sitting back in her seat and sticking her nose up, "Quite honestly, it's an insult to my abilities as a powerful witch, and is certainly not what I came here to learn." Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Gracie in surprise, before turning back to her match, obviously a little shaken by her friend's words.

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Walker asked brightly, appearing suddenly at Gracie's elbow.

"No, no problem professor," Elizabeth said quickly, abandoning her slowly slivering match to smile what she thought was a convincing smile at the teacher.

"Yes. There is a problem here Professor." Gracie said slowly, turning to look directly into the Professor's concerned eyes, "this is a ridiculous exercise."

At this, Professor Walker cocked her head interestedly, before asking, "How so Gracie? Do tell me what is so, _ridiculous_ about this lesson that has been a part of Hogwarts' curriculum for the past 70 years.'"

"Well, for a start, I think it is an absolute insult to my abilities Professor_."_

Elizabeth sank her head into her arms at this, and Gracie could hear people giggling. Professor Walker, now fully aware that the whole class was listening to the conversation, having long abandoned their silvering matches sighed, "And what do you suggest we do to rectify this situation Gracie?"

"I suggest," Gracie replied coldly, her nose still firmly held up in the air "That you reassess your curriculum, and have it better suited to students who are more, _accelerated_."

Professor Walker quietly assessed her for a moment, her eyes sweeping up and down Gracie's contemptuous face before slowly replying, "If Miss Dursley can so kindly demonstrate her, her, _special abilities _by turning this match into a needle on the first go, I would certainly be most sincere and apologetic for the insults to her seemingly limitless ego."

Gracie nodded slowly, feeling defiant to Professor Walker and confident in her abilities. She raised her wand, the familiar spark of warmth gently caressing her fingers, reassuring her that she had the ability to easily turn this match into a needle. Holding her wand out as Professor Walker had demonstrated, Gracie smirked and calmly said, "_Transibit effercio."_

The match didn't change into a needle. It didn't even move. It just sat there as if nothing had ever happened.

"_Transibit effercio!" _Gracie repeated harshly, shaking her wand angrily at the match.

Again, the match failed to be anything but a match.

"_Transibit effercio!" _Grace tried again desperately, her face no longer calm and cool, but red and scrunched up in utter mortification as the match lay on the table, still very much a match.

The tapping of Professor Walker's foot resounded around the classroom, as Gracie stared at her failure. She looked up slowly at the Professor, who had her arms crossed, an almost sympathetic expression gracing her dainty features.

"5 points from Gryffindor Miss Dursley, for your rudeness and blatant disrespect to a teacher. Be grateful it is not anymore." Turning to the rest of the class who abruptly turned around at this point, pretending they hadn't been watching the entire altercation, she said,

"Finish off the notes on Transfiguration for homework, and class is dismissed. I hope that you all have learnt where rudeness and boasting gets you in Hogwarts- that is not very far and not in very good favour." She then left classroom. After being sure Professor Walker had indeed left, Elizabeth then turned to Gracie,

"Yeah nice going Gracie- she probably thinks I'm horrible as well!"

"I'm sure she doesn't!" Gracie said quickly, grabbing onto Elizabeth's arm as she went to stand up, "Look, I didn't mean for it to come out like that! I'm so-"

"Just let me go alright!" Helena said, throwing Gracie's arm back as she quickly left the room, followed by the other Gryffindor first years who stared openly at Gracie as they giggled and whispered.

"Well done Gracie," another voice piped up behind her. Gracie wheeled around to identify the owner of the voice, her heart beating fast as the whispers and giggles reverberated in her head. It was a red faced Lily, flanked closely by the concerned looking Lucy, "You're such a great addition to Gryffindor."

"Lily- I'm so-" Gracie began, but Lily too left, followed by the silent sheep that was Lucy. Looking around, she realised that not only was she all alone, but that she had screwed up big time- and on her first day. Gracie couldn't explain why she had reacted so venomously to the task, but it had seemed so trivial and childish compared to what she could already do.

Slowly gathering her books as the chatty fourth years entered the transfiguration room, Gracie slipped out the door, realising for the second time in 24 hours that she was lost and utterly alone.

* * *

><p>AN

I don't own any of the characters you recognise- all that you don't I own.

Wow, sorry to everyone who's been awaiting an update- my last year of high school is a lot more important than this story.

I hope you are all enjoying Gracie's journey as much as I am writing it. :)

Feel free to review! They're loved and appreciated! Fanfic1900 :)


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